Switzerland, Federal
fedpol (Swiss Federal Office of Police)
Facial image comparison module (Gesichtsbildabgleich) in the AFIS biometric system, supplied by Thales DIS Schweiz
ProposedOfficial publicationPAI-747F5A15
- Body
- fedpol (Swiss Federal Office of Police)
- Country
- Switzerland
- Area
- Federal
- Technology
- Facial image comparison module (Gesichtsbildabgleich) in the AFIS biometric system
- Supplier
- Thales DIS Schweiz
- Status
- Proposed
Planned by a named body: a procurement, approved budget, announced pilot or consultation. Not yet in use. - Stage
- On the horizon
- Since
- Not known
- Legal basis
- A 2013 ordinance is reported to be the basis (nau.ch, 8 May 2023, reporting CH Media; Netzwoche calls it a very thin basis); fedpol's pages cite no specific statute for the module. A criminal law professor argues that a general authorisation at ordinance level is not sufficient. For live facial recognition, fedpol states there is no legal basis in Switzerland.
- Oversight
- fedpol states that matches produced automatically are verified manually by its own facial image experts, that comparison is carried out exclusively against images already stored in AFIS from police person-queries - social media images and identity document photographs are excluded - and that use is confined to individual cases after an offence, with real-time surveillance ruled out.
- Evidence
- Official publication
Police force, government department or public body publication - Source
- fedpol; Netzwoche, update of 10 March 2025; nau.ch, 8 May 2023
- Last checked
- Record code
PAI-747F5A15
Notes
Established by fedpol's own page on Gesichtsbildabgleich, which describes the automated fingerprint identification system AFIS being renewed and extended with a facial image comparison module, under which facial image traces from crime scenes are compared against stored facial images of known persons. The page refers to the project as AFIS2026 and gives a contract award announced on 10 March 2025. Status is recorded as proposed because fedpol describes a system being built, and no source shows the module in use. fedpol's pages do not state which law and article authorise the module, and Swiss commentary disputes whether the existing basis is adequate (see below). A contract award date is not a deployment date, so no start date is given.
Update, November 2026. Netzwoche (an update dated 10 March 2025 to a 2023 report) says fedpol awarded the AFIS2026 contract to Thales DIS Schweiz, published on the Simap procurement platform on 10 March 2025, for an initial nine years extendable to 15, with productive operation planned to start in the first quarter of 2027 and to proceed in stages. It reports fedpol's stated safeguards: data hosted in Switzerland, no Thales access to operational data, no photographs from social media or identity documents, matching only case by case after an offence, and no automatic real-time surveillance by cameras in public space. Nau.ch (8 May 2023), reporting interviews by CH Media, says the project rests on a 2013 ordinance, quotes Monika Simmler, professor of criminal law at the University of St Gallen, as saying that a general authorisation at ordinance level is not sufficient ("Dafür genügt eine Pauschalermächtigung auf Verordnungsstufe nicht"), and reports that a fedpol spokesperson accepted that facial image matching is a form of facial recognition. It also reports that the Federal Council approved a credit of just under 25 million francs to renew AFIS by 2026. fedpol's AFIS2026 page states that there is no legal basis in Switzerland for live facial recognition. No use of the module has been reported.