Topics
Stopping advertising and address trading
Unwanted advertising arrives through many channels. There are effective remedies for each of them.
Letterbox
- Unaddressed advertising: a “No advertising, please” sticker on your letterbox (in German-speaking areas: «Bitte keine Werbung») must be respected.
- Addressed advertising: sign up for the Robinson list of the Swiss Direct Marketing Association (SDV). The association’s members undertake not to send you addressed advertising.
- Individual companies: object in writing to the use of your data for advertising (template). After that, the company may no longer send you advertising (Art. 30 FADP).
Telephone
Have an asterisk (*) added next to your entry in the telephone directory – you can arrange this through your telephone provider. Advertising calls to numbers marked with an asterisk are prohibited unless you are already a customer of the company (Art. 3 para. 1 let. u UCA). You can report unlawful advertising calls to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
Email and text messages
Mass advertising by email or text message is only permitted if you have given your consent beforehand or are already a customer. Every message must include an easy way to unsubscribe (Art. 3 para. 1 let. o UCA). Unsubscribe using this link – but only with reputable senders. If it is obviously spam: don’t respond, just delete it.
Where did they get my address?
If you make an access request, the company must tell you where it got your data from (Art. 25 FADP). This lets you track down address traders and object to them as well.
Other sources of your address
- Moving house: when you notify Swiss Post of your move, you can decide whether your new address may be passed on to companies.
- Municipality: in many cantons you can ask the residents’ registration office not to disclose your data to private parties (data block).
- Competitions and loyalty cards are often used to collect addresses. Read what the data will be used for.