They are now fully compatible with the latest version of DCAT-AP-CH (v2) and its recent updates.

By using this metadata template, your portals will be fully harvestable by opendataswiss, the Swiss national portal. Indeed, opendataswiss has recently updated its metadata validation system in line with DCAT-AP-CH v2.

Until opendataswiss migrates to opendata.swiss next (planned for 2026), importing non-compliant metadata on opendataswiss will remain possible but will trigger error emails. We therefore recommend updating your DCAT-AP-CH metadata now for optimal harvesting.

• opendataswiss checks are now more thorough. All mandatory metadata must be present and accurate. The compliance of recommended and optional properties, if provided, is also checked. Make sure to review the completeness and accuracy of your metadata.
•  the dct:license metadata replaces dct:rights. The dct:license metadata refers to the terms of use of datasets on opendataswiss. It is mandatory and can only take four values (defined here). We have integrated this new metadata into our Opendatasoft DCAT-AP-CH template, and you can directly choose from the four possible values in the back office.

• the dct:rights metadata now serves to specify the dataset’s license only in the specific case where it falls under one of the three Creative Commons licenses defined here. The dct:rights metadata is displayed when the dataset is published on data.europa.eu but not on opendataswiss. In the Opendatasoft DCAT-AP-CH export, dct:rights will be generated from the license metadata in the Dataset template, if it matches one of the three allowed CC licenses. The former dct:rights field in the Opendatasoft DCAT-AP-CH template is deprecated and should no longer be used.

• For full details on the DCAT-AP-CH v2 template, see the official documentation.
• For full details on the metadata validation system implemented by opendataswiss, see their handbook.