The authorities of the Confederation, the cantons and the communes shall ensure that files on compulsory social measures and placements prior to 1981 are held in safekeeping. The Federal Council shall regulate the safekeeping of such files, determining in particular for how long and in what form they are to be kept.
They may not use the files to take decisions that are prejudicial to the persons affected.
The authorities of the Confederation and the cantons shall assign protective periods to files containing personal data that take account of the legitimate interests of the persons affected, their family members, and research.
Institutions that were involved in compulsory social measures or placements and which are not bound under cantonal law by the canton’s information, data protection and archiving legislation are subject to the provisions of the information, data protection and archiving legislation of their canton of domicile. These institutions shall ensure that their files are professionally secured, evaluated, indexed and held in safekeeping.