You need to shop with friends for a 2kg leg of lamb. My wife and I borrow our grandchildren.
But possibly still cheaper than the local butcher!
Yes, only make that mistake once! Grandchildren sadly a bit too far away- but we borrow other kids (and call it babysitting lol)
yep, not sure how many drug dealers get across the border (let alone those that you can see on every corner in some well known Geneva areas) while they are busy meat counting.
but don't get me wrong. I am not ranting or anything, certainly not for 200 chf. I honestly felt sorry for the guys.
Come and talk to all my neighbours who are Border Guards- they will tell you how often they stop drug dealers, small, medium, big and massive- at the local borders and on patrols on minor roads, 24/7.
When we were living in Zug we did a large monthly shop in France.
Never got stopped in 4 years luckily.
I used to humm the tune to the great escape film as we passed border into Switzerland having nothing been stopped
Only time I ever got stopped was coming back from lake Como on a Sunday afternoon and we literally didn’t have anything to declare.
Just been for a day out.
Post N°20 ?
The motion was submitted by a parliamentarian and passed in both chambers (against the advice of Finance Minister Ueli Maurer, who said that it would be a nightmare to implement). It is now up to the Federal Council to organize implementation. Once that has been announced, a committee could be formed to collect the requisite number of signatures to put it to a national vote.
I can't really see how they will implement it. Swiss border posts are often unmanned and they don't have the resources to man them all permanently. Going shopping for over 50 Euros will be a calculated risk. More often than not, depending on the crossing you use, it won't be an issue. As the Carrefour supermarket in Italy near us is open until midnight 7 nights a week, I'm fairly relaxed about the whole situation.
This is again Spaghetti in peoples's head.
Drug smuggling and human trafficking have nothing to do with customs, its not their jurisdiction. This is done by the police.
Customs are there to check to excess of meat, alcohol, tobacco and rental cars. Thats it.
Exactly!
Tom
A big difference between Customs Officers and Border Guards.
But they work together for sure- and don't always work that well with 'normal' police.
There is no difference since around three years ago, when they were combined into one.
Tom
P.S. JackieH, I was also surprised to discover this a year or more ago, as they used to be separate.
Not exactly they are their to see what comes in to Switzerland, they aren't too bothered with what, providing it is legal.
It is not the normal police that work on all the trains in and out of Switzerland, for instance. Checking for traficking of anything and anyone, as well as drugs, illegal immigration, etc. Or airports, road patrols, or indeed at the Borders or nearby (up to 30 km)
P.S. Was even more recen than I thoughtt:
"By 2021, the Swiss Border Guard was integrated into the directorate "Operations"."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Border_Guard
Tom
Excess of rental cars sounds scary!
Had to learn the hard way that it is not allowed to have your car repaired by a garage in Germany and cross the border using the garage's rental car in the mean time -- luckily the border guards were kind and helpful as it was due to an accident.
I believe that higher limits were in part due to limited enforcement. With advancing technological possibilities those limits will (sadly in my opinion) shrink more and more, making life more stressful.
you are allowed to drive a non-Swiss registered rental car for up to 8 days
https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2007/250/it
art 36
Correct, but you have to request a form 15.25 at a manned border crossing during opening hours.
"Sie müssen bei der Einreise beim Schweizer Zoll einen Vormerkschein 15.25 beantragen."
https://www.ezv.admin.ch/ezv/de/home...zeuge/faq.html
Also:
Mit dem Vormerkschein 15.25 haben Sie 8 Tage Zeit (ab Beginn des Mietvertrages gerechnet), das Fahrzeug wieder auszuführen oder an das in der Schweiz ansässige Vermietungsunternehmen zurückzugeben.
The 8 days starts when your rental started. So if you hire a car in Germany and use it for 4 days before crossing into Switzerland, you can only use it for 4 days here, not 8, before either leaving the country or returning the vehicle back to a rental company office in Switzerland.
Mandates of the Swiss Customs Admin: https://www.ezv.admin.ch/ezv/en/home...a/mandate.html
In the past there were two separate functions: customs officer and border police officer. Well, these functions were merged back on 2019: https://www.lenouvelliste.ch/article...ontiere-833211
Of course, that's only the legal framework. The retraining of people and organizational changes take some time to fully implement. Anyway, I wouldn't say today that drug smuggling and human trafficking is not the business of a customs officer .
Does anyone have any latest info on when the change comes into affect?? Curious to know if it'll start soon, like in the new year.
Maybe never.
Tom