Dear Anna, don't worry - you are not alone : most (if not all) people in Switzerland, interested in genealogy, are upset about it ! So you are in good company - which unfortunately doesn't help you much :-(. > ---------- > Von: Anna Rufer[SMTP:rufer@xtra.co.nz] > Gesendet: Dienstag, 18. Januar 2000 09:56 > An: SWITZERLAND-L@rootsweb.com > Betreff: Fw: [SWITZ] New Swiss Civil Registration Ordinance > > Sorry for bringing this up again, but I have been stewing over it for the > past week. > Am I the only one upset about the access changes to these very important > records, or perhaps being a newbie since December I missed previous > discussion on the subject? > > ----Original Message----- > From: Seelentag Wolfhart Dr. KSSG_RO <wolf.seelentag@kssg.ch> > To: SWITZERLAND-L@rootsweb.com <SWITZERLAND-L@rootsweb.com> > Date: Wednesday, 12 January 2000 09:42 > Subject: [SWITZ] New Swiss Civil Registration Ordinance > > >To get information on deceased people you have to get a permission from > the > >cantonal Civil Registry Office > >Now - to get this permission, you have to prove that you are a direct > >descendant ! -((. Prove means - have a chain of > >documents from your birth certificate to your parents' marriage > certificate > >to .... the person you want information about. If you get the permission > - > >there is a fee (sfr 50 for St.Gallen - this might be different in other > >cantons). With this permission you are now allowed to approach the local > >Civil Registration Office and ask for a Familienschein - see > >http://swiss.genealogy.net/intro-e.htm > >for which the fee will usually be in the sfr 25 ... 50 range (depending > on > >the number of entries, i.e. mainly the number of children). > > SO - you must PAY for certificates of proof, > May depend : I have done research for two people (NO - I'm not accepting any more jobs ;-)) recently in two different cantons - plain photocopies of requestors' documents were accepted; this doesn't necessarily mean that all authorities (detailed regulations are issued by the cantons !) will accept plain copies without certification. > in order to PAY to receive > permission, in order to PAY for the information required! > THAT IS BEUROCRACY AT ITS MOST ABSURD!!! > Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind (in fact I expect to have to) paying > in the course of my research, but this is paying THREE times for ONE lot > of > data. > What was the reason behind this? > I can only imagine it was 1) revenue gathering > Yes and no : administration wants to get paid for work they are doing (could be considered reasonable) - the basic question is, why this unnecessary workload is created in the first place ! > or 2) to prevent people from > having reasonable access to their own family records - which in my mind is > inherantly wrong. > I wouldn't quite word it that way : the aim is to prevent access to information which should not be handed out freely - this ordinance is meant to cover cases like legacy-hunting as well ! The problem is that genealogy is just not covered as a special case - well, it's mentioned, but no real consequences are drawn from this :-((. Genealogy is not as widely popular here as it seem to be in English speaking countries - people making the law just couldn't be bothered (my personal impression). > Are there Genealogical Societies in Switzerland, and if so did they fight > to > prevent this from going ahead? If no one has made a fuss about it - they > should have! > There is a Swiss Genealogical Society : they have tried to influence this - not as much as I would have liked (due to internal quarrels at the time of the "Vernehmlassung"), but they have; and my impression is, even a "healthy" society couldn't have done much better. BTW : SGFF is well again - have a look at http://sgff.genealogy.net/ or http://www.eye.ch/swissgen/SGFF/ > In addition: > >Nobody will get any information on living people : you are supposed to > >contact these people themselfes > > What about information about yourself? In New Zealand the privacy laws > give > you the permission, in fact the RIGHT to access, view, and if necessary to > correct any information held about yourself. > Your own data should be no problem - but not your parents' : reasoning are cases like illegitimate children; the father might be mentioned in the register, but the mother doesn't want the child to know about him. Don't start a discussion here about such a mother - but that's what Swiss privacy law requires. I have to add, that Swiss privacy law does NOT require everything set down in the civil registration ordinance (despite the fact, that the ordinance is often defended as a consequence of the privacy law) - the ordinance introduces further and tighter limits than required by privacy law :-( ! > When I send updates about our family to the local Swiss embassy here in > New > Zealand I assume it gets into the Rufer Family Register in Münchenbuchsee > correctly. > So you are still a Swiss citizen - in which case this should happen. If you are a Swiss citizen (which I'm not) - inform your embassy about your concerns and express your dismay about this regulation ! You alone won't change much - but lots of complaints might result in changes at the end. > Surely I have the right to view our page and/or receive a copy of > the information to confirm it is there, and correct. > > What do others think? > Regards, Anna - from Putaruru, New Zealand > Best regards - Wolf