E-Governance

Function: Considers the use of information and communication technologies and organisational changes in public administration to simplify public services and democratic processes for citizens and businesses. The most important functions in Switzerland are the electronic and uniform processing of forms, accounting and reporting. This concerns AHV/and IV procedures, e-invoices, exchange and harmonisation of registration data, e.g. of persons, companies, buildings and apartments, financial data, etc. In Switzerland, the Federal Council adopted the eGovernment strategy in 2007, and modified and further developed it at regular intervals. The last time was in summer 2019 for the period from 2020 to 2023.

Advantages: The advantages for the citizen are better round-the-clock availability of the authorities and a reduction in visits to the authorities and waiting times. For the authorities, the advantage lies in the technical automation of many processes and the creation of free capacities for special requests. At the same time, transparency for the citizen is to be promoted and potential corruption curbed. In this way, eGovernment is also participative and promotes democracy, e.g. in voting and budget planning. For businesses, too, the time and effort required for enquiries and visits to authorities should be significantly reduced. Last but not least, this can also reduce the costs of the authorities.

Disadvantages: High time and financial expenditure during implementation.

Examples: eGovernment Strategy Switzerland