Today, Switzerland’s public transport union (UTP) announced it would ban smoking on train platforms from 1 June 2019. From this date, smoking will only be allowed in designated smoking areas. The UTP hopes the ban will improve the comfort of passengers, reduce cleaning costs and better cater for both non-smokers and smokers. In Switzerland, platform […]
Switzerland’s electronic motorway vignette to be optional
This week, Switzerland’s Federal Council decided the planned electronic motorway vignette will be optional. Drivers will be able to choose. Anyone wanting to drive on Switzerland’s motorway network must first buy a vignette, a road tax sticker introduced in 1985, which must be displayed on the windscreen. It currently costs CHF 40. The government’s announcement […]
Nestlé to move Nespresso global headquarters from Lausanne
Nestlé recently announced that the global headquarters of Nespresso will move from Lausanne to Vevey. The announcement confirms rumours that have been circulating for some time. While the move will affect around 350 staff no redundancies are planned. From 2021, Nespresso’s global management team will be housed in a building it owns containing the Nest […]
Swiss law, not foreign judges vote
This vote, also known as the Self-determination initiative, goes before Swiss voters on Sunday 25 November 2019. It aims to fundamentally change the way Switzerland deals with conflicts between its constitution and the nation’s web of international agreements. If accepted, Swiss constitutional law would trump any conflicting international law or agreement. This would mean that […]
Swiss cow horn vote this weekend
This Sunday, Swiss voters will decide whether farmers who leave horns on livestock should get an additional subsidy from Switzerland’s taxpayers. The initiative does not aim to ban horn removal. The share of hornless cows and goats has increased over the last twenty years to around three quarters of cows and a third of goats. […]
New nuclear reactors might be planned near Geneva
The French power company EDF has been looking at buying land near a nuclear power plant in the nearby department of Ain, according to the newspaper Le Temps. It is understood that a third generation Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) could be built there. An EPR is a type of pressurized water reactor developed by EDF […]
Swiss unemployment benefits cut for a one-day filing delay
Switzerland’s unemployment benefits might be generous but they are strictly policed, as one recipient recently discovered. For a period of up to approximately two years after losing a job, most workers in Switzerland receive 70% of their former salary up to a maximum of CHF 88,200 a year – the amount paid varies depending on […]
Swiss households to get partial TV licence refund
Following a recently published decision by the Federal Tribunal, Switzerland’s highest court, VAT charged on Switzerland’s radio and TV licence from 2010 to 2015 will be refunded to all those who paid the fee over this period. The Federal Department of Communications (DETEC) has begun the process of coming up with the legal mechanics for […]
Plans for Swiss paternity leave being discussed
A government commission has come out in favour of paid paternity leave and has until 2 March 2019 to discuss a plan to offer new fathers two weeks of paid leave, according to RTS. The aim is to come up with a compromise between the 20 days in a referendum being put to voters at […]
Switzerland launches new campaign against antibiotic abuse
Overuse of antibiotics, particularly in agriculture, is a key driver of antibiotic resistant bugs. Antibiotic resistant super bugs claim an estimated 25,000 lives across the EU every year. In Switzerland 270 people died from antibiotic resistant bugs in 2015. The main causes of antibiotic resistance are: over-prescribing, patients not taking antibiotics as prescribed, poor hygiene […]
