requirements

Below are the conditions for the labels "swiss made software" and "swiss digital services". The requirements for "swiss hosting" can be found here:

The labels can be used individually or in combination. Depending on the offer, the boundaries between a product or a service are fluid. Sometimes an offer can be characterized by both labels simultaneously (e.g. platform business).

To be noted: A service may meet the swiss made criteria but be provided using a third-party product (e.g. operation of a firewall from abroad by personnel in Switzerland). In this case, the customer must be informed transparently which parts of the offer meet the swiss made criteria.

Finally, the "swiss digital services" label can also be used for services such as custom software development, consulting or implementation.

products

There are three criteria which must be met for a product to be advertised as Swiss with the swiss made software label:

The proportion of production costs incurred in Switzerland must make up at least 60% of total production costs.
The most significant part of the manufacturing process must have taken place in Switzerland.
The company must be based or have a base in Switzerland and be registered in the commercial register. It can therefore be the Swiss subsidiary of a foreign parent company.

The definitive criteria are those defined in the Trade Mark Protection Act (TmPA, German: Markenschutzgesetz, MSchG), as amended on 1 January 2017 (SR 232.11), specifically articles 48 to 48d of the act.

services

For a service to be eligible for the swiss made label, it must also meet the following criteria:

The company and its management must be legally and physically situated in Switzerland (see article 49, paragraph 1, MSchG).
The relevant services must be provided from/within Switzerland.

how is the 60 percent calculated?

Costs of production include the costs of research and development, material costs, and actual product creation costs (including costs for quality assurance and certification). In the case of software, this is essentially the salaries paid to professional employees (interns, apprentices etc. are not included).

general

Improper description of a company’s products or services as Swiss-made is a punishable offense (see article 61 et seq., MSchG)

Use of the swiss made software logo without explicit approval is prohibited.

In the event of doubt, swiss made software reserves the right to use additional criteria and assessments to determine the Swiss character of products and services.

An important milestone was reached in April 2009. Since this time, a partnership with SGS, Sociéte Générale de Surveillance SA, has made it possible to complement the swiss made software label with ISO-25001 certification. The certification helps to make swiss made software a hard factor to differentiate the company’s profile from international competitors.