Swiss B2B Sales and the revised FADP: A Practical Compliance Guide

Since September 2023, Switzerland operates under the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (revFADP), which closely mirrors the EU GDPR while retaining Swiss specifics. For B2B sales and lead generation teams, the practical implications are clear and manageable.

Lawful Basis for B2B Outreach

revFADP allows processing of personal data on the basis of legitimate interest, including for B2B prospecting, provided three conditions are met: the message is professionally relevant to the recipient, the recipient can opt out easily at any time, and the sender's identity and processing purpose are transparent. This is the standard cold-email and LinkedIn outbound legal basis.

Personal vs Corporate Addresses

The revFADP applies to personal data, including business email addresses that contain personal identifiers (firstname.lastname@company.ch). Generic addresses (info@, sales@) are not personal data and fall outside the act. In practice, treat all B2B addresses with the same rigour to be safe.

Required Practices

Maintain a record of processing activities (RoPA) listing your outbound systems, data sources, retention periods, and recipients. Honour deletion and access requests within 30 days. Include a clear opt-out mechanism in every outbound email. Document your legitimate interest assessment (LIA) for each campaign type.

Cross-Border Data Transfers

Sending Swiss personal data to processors in the US, India or other non-adequate jurisdictions requires Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent safeguards. Most modern sales tools (Apollo, Smartlead, Clay) offer data processing addenda that meet revFADP requirements. Verify before signing.

LinkedIn and revFADP

Scraping LinkedIn data without consent is a grey area. The platform's terms prohibit it; revFADP's view is nuanced. Safer practice: use Sales Navigator's native exports, enrich with consented data, and never store mass-scraped profiles in your CRM without lawful basis.

Cold Calling

Cold calling B2B numbers is permitted under revFADP. The Swiss telecommunications act adds restrictions: respect the asterisk (*) marking in directories, which signals refusal of advertising calls. Calls to mobile numbers are generally acceptable for B2B but should be light-touch.

Penalties

revFADP introduced personal liability for responsible individuals (not just companies) with fines up to CHF 250,000 for serious violations. The risk is real but proportionate; most enforcement actions to date have targeted egregious abuses, not standard B2B outbound.

Practical Checklist

Document RoPA and LIA. Use compliant data sources. Include opt-out in every email. Honour deletion requests. Use SCCs for non-EU/CH processors. Train SDRs on basic compliance. Review annually.