Swiss Post to help harmonise registers
Swiss Post is offering a service to cantons and municipalities to undertake the allocation of the national dwelling identification number (“EWID”). Swiss Post is offering a service to cantons and municipalities to undertake the allocation of the national dwelling identification number ("EWID").
This identifier will be required in the latter part of 2009 ahead of the 2010 census and will be used to assign every citizen to a household. In cooperation with the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Swiss Post has developed a practical method that meets data protection regulations. The service entails checking the municipalities' registers of residents against the National Register of Buildings and Dwellings (RBD). Where necessary, Swiss Post's delivery personnel will verify this data on the ground before allocating the EWID. To date the cantons of Zurich, Basel-Stadt and Lucerne have signed a declaration of intent with Swiss Post and are now in the process of putting the required cantonal legislation in place.
Unlike in previous years, the 2010 census will no longer be conducted by distributing questionnaires to every household. Instead it will now be register-based, i.e. it will be based on data compiled from the official registers of residents maintained by the Confederation, cantons and municipalities. According to the register harmonization legislation enacted, the cantons and municipalities must harmonize their registers by 15 January 2010. This includes the introduction of identifiers such as the new 13-digit AHV insurance number as well as recording a minimum set of mandatory attributes in the register of residents. It also includes allocation of national building and dwelling identifiers (EGID/EWID) to the people listed in this register. For medium-sized and large municipalities of an urban residential character, this poses a major challenge as it is not possible to allocate identifiers in buildings with several dwellings on one floor without recourse to additional information. This additional information has to be obtained from a variety of data sources, and may also require on-site visits. In cooperation with the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Swiss Post has therefore developed a solution that enables cantons and municipalities to commission Swiss Post to carry out the EWID allocation within the deadline and to the required high quality standard. The method was developed in an FSO working group, which included representatives of the cantons and municipalities as well as of the Swiss Home Owners Association and the Swiss Real Estate Association, and was tailored to its requirements.
Pioneering partnership
In the service sector, this project represents a pioneering nationwide partnership between the Confederation, the cantons and business. The cantons of Zurich, Basel-Stadt and Lucerne have already signed a declaration of intent to subcontract EWID allocation to Swiss Post. Further cantons and municipalities are set to follow suit. The cantons and municipalities are under no obligation to use the services of Swiss Post. They are also free to carry out the EWID allocation themselves.
The services of Swiss Post include procuring the necessary data sources such as the dwelling and resident lists of property management companies, the relevant data from residents' registers and the National Register of Buildings and Dwellings (RBD), as well as computerized consolidation of this data. Swiss Post will use its postal carriers to verify that the collated data does actually correspond to the respective residential situations. They know their local delivery patch and can check that the data is correct on the ground. In some cases, such as in multi-occupancy buildings for example, it is impossible to assign a dwelling number correctly without visiting the property.
