Since 2012, the Product Register for Chemicals (RPC) has provided businesses with a platform to facilitate the registration of their preparations, biocides, substances and parallel imported plant protection products, in compliance with the Swiss legislation on chemical products. Since 2019, RPC also offers the possibility of registering fertilisers.
At the same time, the register is used by both federal and cantonal authorities, customs and the toxicological information centre ToxInfo to facilitate their authorisation, control and prevention tasks. In addition, part of RPC is available to the public as part of the right to information.
Since its inception, this digital register has been continually developed to meet legal requirements and the needs of its various users. Now, after ten years in operation, it is approaching the end of its life cycle. The project for the future development of RPC is therefore an opportunity to offer an up-to-date register that is in line with new IT practices, as well as addressing RPC's current issues.
The improvements designed to address these shortcomings include in particular:
- A redesigned, personalised interface for the different user groups,
- An integrated management of addresses, accounts and roles registered in the system,
- The digitalisation of certain processes that are still manual, in particular those requiring documents to be sent by post, and
- An increased traceability, thanks to a new search and logging system.
Initiated in 2020, the project supports the FOPH's IT strategy, which aims to implement a unified platform of IT applications, the e-Portal Health and Environment (ePGU). Thanks to centralised management, coordinated by the FOITT, and an architecture that allows the reuse of components between applications, this platform will simplify processes and significantly reduce operating costs.
The project is also part of the Digital Switzerland strategy adopted by the Federal Council to lead the digital transformation of the federal administration. The objectives of this plan include improving collaboration between administrative units, standardising procedures, exploiting synergies, strengthening the administration's customer focus and automating routine tasks so that employees can focus on more complex tasks.
The aim of the project is therefore to develop a system that meets the following objectives
- Simplify and speed up the processes so that companies can more easily comply with their legal obligations.
- Design a flexible system that can be used effectively by all user groups.
- Address the shortcomings of the current system by implementing the above improvements.
If you would like more information about the project or to be kept up to date with the latest developments, you can subscribe to our twice-yearly newsletter here: BAG Newsletter RPC (admin.ch) (currently only available in German, French and Italian). You can also consult our previous newsletters at the bottom of the News page (News(admin.ch)).
