# Federal Council decision on the regulation of artificial intelligence: ratification of the Council of Europe Convention and sector-specific adjustments

- **Record type**: Policy instrument
- **Jurisdiction**: Switzerland
- **Instrument type**: Policy
- **Status**: Adopted
- **Binding**: No — guidance, strategy or standard
- **Issuing body**: Swiss Federal Council
- **Adopted**: 2025-02-12

## In brief

Federal Council AI regulatory approach (2025) is a non-binding policy of Switzerland, issued by the Swiss Federal Council. It was adopted on 12 February 2025. Sets direction for federal law-making; creates no obligations until implementing legislation is adopted. Every record here links to its official source and states its verification status.

## Summary

On 12 February 2025 the Federal Council decided how Switzerland will regulate AI: it will ratify the Council of Europe Framework Convention on AI and implement it mainly through targeted changes to existing law where needed (for example transparency, data protection and non-discrimination), avoid a horizontal AI act, and complement legislation with non-binding measures such as self-regulation and agreements with industry. Federal departments were tasked to prepare a consultation draft by the end of 2026.

## Scope

Sets direction for federal law-making; creates no obligations until implementing legislation is adopted.

## Key dates

2025-02-12: Federal Council decision; end of 2026: consultation draft due.

## Notes on dates

Dates are taken from the linked official source; a reviewer should confirm in-force and application dates before relying on them.

## Dated deadlines

- 2026-12-31 — Consultation draft on ratification and legal amendments (precision: year, status: scheduled)

## Provenance

- **Permanent id**: AIPT-POL-0181 (https://aipolicytracker.org/id/AIPT-POL-0181; never changes or gets reused)
- **Record page**: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/switzerland-federal-council-ai-regulatory-approach-2025
- **Official source**: https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-104110.html
- **Source document**: Federal Council wants to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on AI
- **Published by**: Swiss Federal Council
- **Review status**: verified
- **Confidence**: high
- **Facts last confirmed**: 2026-09-26
- **Confirmed by**: Bhaskar Bhatt (see https://aipolicytracker.org/reviewers)
- **Retrieved**: 2026-10-27
- **Licence**: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- **Cite as**: AIPolicyTracker (2026). "Federal Council decision on the regulation of artificial intelligence: ratification of the Council of Europe Convention and sector-specific adjustments" [AIPT-POL-0181, record version 1, verified 26 September 2026 by Bhaskar Bhatt]. https://aipolicytracker.org/id/AIPT-POL-0181 (accessed 27 October 2026).

> This record is a structured summary with a link to the official text. It is not legal advice. Open the official source before relying on any date or duty. How current each record type must be is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/verification; what a record must carry at all is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/coverage.