School grounds, works yard, recycling point, sports field: municipal cameras are governed by cantonal law, and without a regulation or application with an annex and a site plan, no system may operate. I put inventory, coverage areas and file in order and give your residents clear answers on private cameras. At a fixed price, on site in the cantons of Aargau, Lucerne, Solothurn, Zug and Zurich.
What you share with me stays with me. References only with your consent, and your documents stay in Switzerland.
Manufacturer-neutral and committed to you alone: I sell no cameras and receive no commissions. My advice is guided solely by your business, and you are the only one who pays me.
You get concrete measures, prioritised, clearly worded and achievable with reasonable effort.
From the first conversation to implementation, you always deal with the same person: me.
Each building block is a self-contained service with a clear scope and a fixed price. Together they form the path from an unregulated system to approved operation, with the answer for residents included. Typical sites: school and kindergarten, works yard, recycling point, municipal administration, sports facility and pool, car park, station square and meeting zone, cemetery.
An inventory of all municipal cameras: school grounds, works yard, recycling point, sports facility, administration. For each site the coverage area on the official cadastral map, checked against regulation and approval, signage, retention and access. You receive a report with a list of measures the municipal council can act on directly.
from CHF 2,600 · up to 3 sites and 12 cameras · each additional site CHF 650
Request a municipal camera reviewA regulation or application based on your canton’s templates, an annex with the camera list and site plans showing the coverage area, plus the notice signs and, in Aargau, the needs analysis per site and the data security concept that the data protection authority requires for approval. I accompany the file through to the municipal council’s decision and, in Aargau, to approval. Existing systems without approval I put in order before anyone asks.
from CHF 1,900 · together with the municipal camera review CHF 4,200
Request the fileWhat private individuals may and may not do with cameras: public ground, the neighbour’s property, doorbell cameras, notice signs, where to turn in a dispute. A fact sheet in your municipality’s design and an article for the municipal newsletter and website, plus template letters to operators whose camera points at the street or the village square and to residents who turn to the municipality; on request a consultation session at the town hall. Many neighbour disputes over cameras stem from not knowing the rules; good information spares your administration the complaints afterwards.
Fact sheet and article CHF 1,500 · Consultation session (half day) CHF 950
Request information materialHow many cameras look onto public space, and where? A walk-through from public ground, an anonymised map of camera density by street, with no address list and no register. The basis for the municipal council to target information and measures where they are needed.
from CHF 2,900 · up to 2,000 residents · larger municipalities by quote
Request a surveyView a sample file: an excerpt from a report for a fictional municipality (PDF, in German)
Public bodies are not covered by the federal Data Protection Act but by the data protection law of their canton. The route to a legal basis differs in detail; the requirements regarding purpose, proportionality, perimeter, retention and signage are the same everywhere.
§ 20 IDAG with § 11 VIDAG: a regulation based on the template of the cantonal data protection commissioner (ÖDB), submitted with annex, site plan, a needs analysis per site and a data security concept. The system may only operate once approval has been granted; the approved regulation is published with annex and plan on the municipality’s website.
Video Surveillance Act (VideoG) and ordinance: application to the municipal council, which grants approval for a maximum of five years. The data protection office and the Zug police’s video surveillance unit must be consulted when preparing the application, which includes, among other things, site plans of the coverage areas and evidence of proportionality. The data protection office publishes the approvals granted, including the coverage areas.
Guide “Video surveillance by public bodies” and template regulation of the cantonal data protection commissioner. The legal basis is usually the municipal police ordinance; the municipal council enacts the regulation.
Video Surveillance Act (SRL No. 39) and ordinance: the municipal council orders the surveillance and keeps the public list of camera sites. It is permitted to prevent and prosecute criminal offences; recordings are destroyed after 100 days at the latest. Regulation based on the template of the cantonal data protection commissioner.
§ 16bis of the Information and Data Protection Act: operating regulation based on the cantonal template, adopted by the municipal council or the municipal assembly depending on the municipal code. Fact sheet of the cantonal data protection commissioner.
Purpose, proportionality, coverage area, retention, access and signage largely coincide; a site plan with the perimeter drawn in belongs in every file. As of October 2026; the respective cantonal act is authoritative.
Three steps, one point of contact. You always know where the file stands and what it costs. I sell no cameras and receive no commissions; the legal assessment stays with your legal service and the cantonal data protection office, I deliver the technology, the plans and the file.
30 minutes, free of charge: clarify inventory, occasion, deadlines and responsibilities. If the data protection authority has issued a request, its deadline takes precedence.
All sites in one day: cameras, settings, signage, storage, access. Then the report, site plans with coverage area and the regulation or application based on your canton’s template, within two to four weeks.
A proposal for the municipal council, submission to the competent authority, adjustments with your installer, publication. On request, the information for residents right along with it.
Answered briefly. Everything else we clarify in the initial consultation.
Municipalities are not covered by the federal Data Protection Act but by the data protection law of their canton. Cameras at school grounds, works yards or recycling points need a legal basis: a regulation or application with an annex and a site plan, approved in Aargau by the cantonal data protection commissioner, in Zug by the municipal council, and in Zurich, Lucerne and Solothurn a regulation based on the cantonal template. Without it, the system may not operate. I put inventory and file in order before anyone asks.
That is more common than you would think, and it can be put right: an inventory of all systems, the coverage area of each camera on the cadastral map, a regulation based on your canton’s template, and the application. Do not wait: in 2025 the Aargau data protection authority had a municipality remove the cameras at its school grounds after 16 years of operation without approval. A complete file means no queries that drag out the procedure.
The municipality is the first port of call when residents complain, and it can take its responsibility actively: write to the operator and point out the rules, inform those affected about their rights, mediate between neighbours before the case goes to the justice of the peace, and report persistent cases to the FDPIC. I prepare all of it: a fact sheet, template letters to operators and to those affected, a consultation session at the town hall. On request I check the coverage area on site and record it in an expert report.
Yes, as soon as a camera covers publicly accessible space, and almost all of them do: forecourt, access road, playground. This applies to all organs of the municipality, from the administration to the school and the care home, and to third parties operating systems on the municipality’s behalf. Dummy cameras are no shortcut: they create the same pressure of surveillance and have already been removed in Aargau together with real cameras.
That is the most common purpose, and it is permissible if it is stated in the regulation and the surveillance remains proportionate: only the necessary perimeter, defined hours, short retention, regulated review and access. Anything beyond that will not hold up before the data protection authority. I plan position, angle and lens so that the camera sees exactly what the regulation allows, and draw it on the site plan.
Municipal camera review from CHF 2,600, approval file from CHF 1,900, both together CHF 4,200; informing residents CHF 1,500, consultation session CHF 950; camera survey from CHF 2,900. The “from” prices apply to up to three sites and twelve cameras, or to municipalities of up to 2,000 residents; above that you receive a quote. A fixed price, known in advance, reliable.
The installer supplies the technology; the data protection office says what the law requires. What is usually missing in between is the check whether what is mounted actually does what the regulation says: coverage area, night vision, retention, access. That is exactly what I do, independent of any manufacturer and on site, and I deliver the site plan with the coverage area drawn in, which the authority wants to see with the application.
Briefly describe your situation. I will get back to you within two working days with a proposed date for a free initial consultation.