swiss hosting

what does swiss hosting mean?

The trend towards cloud-hosted technologies and the rollout of GDPR have hammered home the importance of where our data is hosted. It made sense to create a quality seal in keeping with the existing swiss made tradition.

Initially launched as hosted in switzerland at the end of 2018, the new label quickly amassed great popularity. Within a short time, more than 100 companies decided to adopt the new logo, and we received extremely positive feedback. We also received the suggestion to offer hosted in switzerland as a separate logo option.

relationship between swiss made and the swiss made software label

The swiss hosting label was developed by the company swiss made software and is offered exclusively to its members. Since the cloud is still a relatively new concept, there hasn’t yet been anything specifically available to identify something as Swiss. So with this in mind, we developed swiss hosting with the aim of creating a distinctive quality benchmark. To ensure this seal carries weight, we worked closely with our members to develop our terms of use, which provides the legal framework for swiss hosting. These terms also include the option of applying sanctions in the event of abuse, which was a clear request from the members.

swiss hosting can be used in conjunction with the swiss made software logo and/or the swiss digital services logo, but this is not obligatory. However, companies must declare the intended use and agree to the relevant term and conditions.

>Join the label

conditions for using the logo

The following conditions must be met before a license holder can market their services with the swiss hosting logo:

The license holder and its management must be legally and physically situated in Switzerland (see Art. 49 (1) Markenschutzgesetz [Trademark Protection Act]).
Hosting services relating to
-offered applications
-data
-factual data (business information, financial data, research results etc.)
must be located in/running at a data center located within Switzerland. Data protection and data security requirements must be subject to Swiss law.
If the label-bearing product is software as a service (SaaS), only those for which the host also meets the requirements mentioned above can carry the swiss hosting logo. The license holder shall obtain written assurance of this from the host.
Access to the hosting environment and/or the data for operation from abroad and administration by the host must be protected in such a way that data remains entirely in Switzerland and cannot be accessed or claimed by a foreign organization or government, no matter whether directly or indirectly. This also applies to foreign companies within the Group.
in the case of mixed offerings (where hosting located both within Switzerland and abroad is possible), the logo may only be used for offerings that fully meet the criteria. The intended audience must be able to clearly distinguish between the offerings that do and do not meet the criteria.

>more details below at "hands-on"

hands-on

SaaS providers must sign the "swiss hosting" contract and obtain written confirmation from their hosting partner that the general conditions are met. The document "Contract for hosters/cloud partners not affiliated with swiss made software" is available for this purpose. If the hoster is already a member of "swiss hosting", this step does not apply. The SaaS provider should nevertheless make sure that the service it procures meets the criteria, as not all hosters affiliated with "swiss hosting" only offer services that meet these criteria (in this case, the individual services should be individually labeled).

>The contract for SaaS providers can be found here

>The contract for the hoster/cloud provider can be found here

>The contract for hosting partners can be found here (applies only for hosters not already a member of "swiss hosting"

Important: With the relaunch, foreign hosters / cloud providers can no longer be used in combination with "swiss hosting" (Ali Baba, Amazon, Azure, Google, as well as Swiss companies in third countries). Clarify this with your partner using the form provided above.

hosting-partner of swiss hosting

The hosters and cloud providers listed here are direct partners of swiss hosting, thus guaranteeing that the general conditions are met. The list is not exhaustive. Detailed product and service offerings are here. The list of all swiss hosting providers including SaaS offers is here.

-AlpHosting - TiZoo Gmbh

-Sileo Information Management AG

If you are already a "swiss hosting" partner but not on the list, please contact us.

transitional arrangements for hosted in switzerland

hosted in switzerland, the predecessor of swiss hosting, may continue to be used until the end of 2020. After that, hosted in switzerland is no longer valid and must be removed by all companies that still use it. From 01.01.2021 only swiss hosting in connection with the signed framework agreement is valid.

faq

Information for the practical implementation of the contract.

system access from abroad. show detail hide detail

Employees on vacation/business trip - system access from abroad is permitted, provided that technical measures are taken for protection (password, encryption, VPN, etc.) These measures must be technically up to date and are not limited to the examples given here.
Temporary access for third parties - for example maintenance, importing updates, etc.: System access is permitted as long as it is ensured that access does not take place at root level, or that there is no possibility of copying or sucking off customer data.
Support within the scope of 24-hour on-call service: System access is permitted provided that the employees abroad are employed directly by the parent company in Switzerland or by the subsidiary which is solely owned by the parent company. Third party companies may not be commissioned for this purpose. Subsidiaries may not have a legal claim to the data. It must be ensured at the organizational level that no data may be sucked out or copied. At the same time, technical measures ensuring data protection must be in place like those described in point 1.