On Monday, 12 May 2025, Matthias R. Schönbächler, former Data Protection Officer of the Canton of Lucerne, was officially bid farewell by the Lucerne Cantonal Council. Schönbächler held the office from 2018 to 2024 and supported the handover to his successor Natascha Ofner-Venetz in 2025.

In his tribute, Ferdinand Zehnder President of the Cantonal Parliament emphasised Schönbächler’s pioneering work in setting up the cantonal data protection supervisory authority. This task was successfully mastered with legal precision and technical understanding.

As a lawyer with impressively broad specialist knowledge and, as he himself described it, competence in technical dialogue, Matthias Schönbächler combined legal precision with technical understanding

– Ferdinand Zehnder, President of the Cantonal Parliament

The video recording of the Cantonal Parliament session of 12 May 2025 is available on the Cantonal website: https://www.lu.ch/kr/Sessionen/videoaufnahmen?keyword=Session&sessionoverview=true

After these words of praise, the President of the Cantonal Parliament thanked Matthias R. Schönbächler on behalf of the Cantonal Parliament for his many years of service to the Canton of Lucerne.

We would also like to thank Matthias R. Schönbächler for his services to data protection and administrative development in the Canton of Lucerne. Our special thanks also go to the Lucerne Cantonal Council and State Secretary Vinc Blaser for their honourable farewell.