Trying to understand my rights after a confusing situation. Would appreciate anyone with experience in Swiss security vetting (Personensicherheitsprüfung / PSP under StromVG). What happened: I was offered a role (Permit C holder, non-EU citizen from a country not on the Swiss PSP country list). The role required access to the infrastructure of a Swiss critical-infrastructure operator, which by law needs a PSP. The operator’s PSP team sent me the consent forms and described the procedure: submit forms, then receive a link from bit.admin.ch to an online questionnaire, then the federal office (Fachstelle PSP) runs the check, then an official result. I submitted all forms, passport and permit copies, on time, directly to the PSP team. The personal data was collected solely to initiate the federal PSP. I never received the questionnaire link. The federal check was never run. A manager from the infrastructure operator was in CC on the correspondence from the start, but I never sent any documents to him, only to the PSP team. A few hours after I submitted everything, this manager (not part of the PSP team) replied by email saying that “after reviewing the submitted documents” and due to “internal compliance and security requirements,” the role isn’t possible. The job offer was then withdrawn. I emailed the PSP team asking about the status of the check and why I never received the form link. I have not received any reply. So the check described in their own procedure never actually happened. The refusal came informally, before any federal check, from someone at the operator who was in CC but outside the PSP process and who never received my documents directly. He nonetheless stated that his decision was made “after reviewing the submitted documents.” My attempts to clarify the status officially have gone unanswered. My questions: The federal PSP was never actually started. I only submitted the consent forms and never received the questionnaire link. Can the operator refuse access on its own at this stage, without the federal check ever being carried out? If no formal check was run, are they required to issue a reasoned decision (Verfügung) that can be appealed, or can they refuse with no real justification? They collected my personal data specifically to initiate the federal PSP. If the check wasn’t run and the data was used internally to refuse me instead, is that a data-protection issue? Has anyone been through something similar, especially as a non-EU citizen applying for a role touching critical infrastructure? Thanks for any insight. submitted by /u/inferno681
Originally posted by u/inferno681 on r/Switzerland