Private investigator licensing in Switzerland

There is no national licence in Switzerland, but local licensing may apply. There is no federal licence; regulation is cantonal. The French-speaking cantons' concordat on security companies lets each canton bring commercial or private information gathering under its authorisation regime, and Geneva and Neuchâtel require prior authorisation, as does Ticino under its 2020 law on private security and investigation services (LPPS). Most other cantons have no specific licence, and training is not regulated nationally.

Cantonal authorities (e.g. Ticino cantonal police; Geneva and Neuchâtel under the security-companies concordat), under Concordat sur les entreprises de sécurité of 18 October 1996, art. 5(3)(b); cantonal laws such as Ticino's LPPS 2020.

Concordat cantons: authorisation normally valid 4 years, renewal requested at least 2 months before expiry (concordat art. 12a)

1. Check whether the canton where you will be based or work requires authorisation (e.g. Geneva, Neuchâtel, Ticino) 2. In concordat cantons, the person responsible must be Swiss, EU/EFTA or hold a settlement permit, have civil capacity, be solvent and of good character (concordat art. 8) 3. Apply to the cantonal authority for the authorisation to operate and, for staff, the authorisation to employ agents 4. Elsewhere, register the business normally (commercial register if required) and comply with the Federal Act on Data Protection

Agents of firms with no seat or branch in a concordat canton may work there only after authorisation; the authority checks the equivalence of authorisations from non-concordat cantons (concordat art. 10).

Concordat authorisations are valid across the member cantons (FR, VD, VS, NE, GE, JU).

Switzerland requires everyone's consent: all parties must agree before a conversation is recorded.