I was coding late last night with this on the background. 5 mins after the start, I quit the work, went for a beer and watched until the end.
I was in awe because while I recognize everything in the video, the French is effectively Swiss French, even the university library in Lausanne, I could not recognize any of the events filmed on the cities. It felt as if I lived in other country in other continent.
I cannot find better words but it looks like the persecution of the poor and ignorant.The part around 20m10s about the proud customsâ police man made me laugh a bit because he talks about being disconcerted by a supermarket in France just 50m across the border made for Swiss customers to import cheaper food. At the same we all know about Ports Francs et EntrepĂ´ts de Genève SA where everything is fine and life is good.
The parts about shooting and the military are less strange. We all see the kids on the trains, the work colleagues that go some days for service, etc. Finally, dog laws in Neuchâtel. It is true, but these are cantonal laws. Thus, itâs not Switzerland, only the canton.
Overall, it was a surprise to watch the peculiar framing of the featured events. No surprise why people abroad has sometimes a weird perception of life around here.
Years ago we went shopping at the Rhein Center in Weil Am Rhein and when we were waiting for the tram back to Basel a car got stopped at the border post. The police erected a large table and emptied the boot of the car out, there was a load of meat. The poor driverâs wife then started roaring and shouting at him for getting caught, we were trying not to laugh. It was in the run up to Christmas so I guess theyâd bought a load of extras. I read in the local press often about people being stopped coming back into Basel from Weil Am Rhein.
She could have bought the best quality of meat in the quantity of 12 kg with this money and still have something left for vegs, dessert and wine!!! Why people risk losing so much more than theyâd ever gain by circumventing the rules? Adrenaline? Unresolved adolescence?
I donât know if you watched, she got caught, paid the fine, but then refused to pay the customs on the meat so said she would take it back to EU instead. They suspected that she would try elsewhere and so essentially looked out for her and caught her at the next crossing and fined her a second time.
I hadnât, only just now. While I find the meat limits ridiculously low, I fail to feel with them. They tried it on and got busted, thatâs just how it is. Take the risk or leave it but donât come crying afterwards.
Also, you canât tell me that 10kg, and 40kg in the other case, was just happenstance. They might not have thought this through but they definitely knew what they were doing. And itâs unlikely that this was the only time.
I watched 2 min so far. And this small bag is his household waste? We have more waste from one take away lunch that we eat in the train or outdoors during family outings.
What surprised me was how the whole situation with trash police and border police was soâŚcartoonish? Is that in real life or just the magic of film making?
Even if, that doesnât matter. He emtied the stuff at home, that makes it household waste which needs to be put in the for-pay bags. It would probably be a different thing if heâd taken a yoghurt cup, closed, and emptied it in the tram or bus.
Too much work for the border and custom officers. Who is going to pay for this âcuddlingâ? And for what, for making clear that everyone understands that rules are rules?
Frankly, I cannot say I feel even a tiny little bit sorry for the culprits. They know they risk a fine, yet they still do it.
The context here is that Geneva canton owns the Geneva Freeport (not shown in the documentary). This place has a preferential tax treatment (not VAT on sales in there). Also, freeports only tell buyers/sellers âyou owe nothing here, but please donât forget to report to the tax authority where you are residentâ Since freeports are not banks or any other kind of financial institution, they donât have to follow those rules about automatic exchange of information among tax authorities around the worldâŚand the list keeps going.
So, itâs curious to see different lives in the same canton. The undeclared import of 10 kilos of meat being prosecuted by dutiful police. But 10 kilos of gold arriving to the freeport pay no import tax and and not VAT if sold and kept there or re-exported.
Freeports exist the world over, in German theyâre called (Zoll-)Freilager or (Zoll-)Freihafen. Theyâre treated as non-domestic areas for taxing and duties purposes, thatâs their explict purpose. However customs do have oversight and control, any changes must be reported. And of couse if goods are taken into the country (aka imported) theyâre treated like any other import.
