SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Annemarie Lagger, Amina Chammah and Isabell Schellhas, Walder Wyss Ltd
operates a product safety reporting and informa - tion centre together with the Federal Consumer Affairs Bureau (FCAB). • The Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Instal - lations (ESTI) is responsible for the technical super - vision and inspection of electrical installations and electronic devices. • The Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BFU) is competent for personal protective equipment, specifically with regard to traffic, sport and house - hold needs, and for machines, though with regard to recreational use only. • The Swiss Accident Insurance Institution (SUVA) is the competent enforcement body for personal protective equipment and machines, with regard to operational use. • The Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products (Swissmedic) is responsible for the market surveil - lance of therapeutic products and medical devices. • The respective cantonal bodies – eg, cantonal inspectorates/laboratories – are generally com - petent to enforce the Swiss Foodstuffs and Utility Articles legislation (including with regard to toys, cosmetic products or food contact materials). • The respective cantonal bodies – eg, cantonal inspectorates/laboratories – are generally compe - tent to enforce Swiss chemical legislation. 1.3 Obligations to Commence Corrective Action Generally, for consumer products (ie, products that are intended for consumers or likely to be used by consumers under reasonably foreseeable conditions), the Swiss Product Safety Act obliges the producer or any other distributor to take adequate measures (ie, corrective actions) in the course of its business to prevent potential dangers arising from those products. A corrective action is deemed “adequate” if the dis - advantages that arise for the producer or other dis - tributor are not considered completely disproportion - ate in comparison with the advantages resulting for the affected consumers. Potential measures include the issuing of warnings, a sales stop, the withdrawal from the market or the recall of the product. The law does not provide for any fixed formal requirements. Therefore, any corrective action may be chosen if it ultimately serves to avert the danger posed by the
product. In practice, the competent enforcement bod - ies regularly require a producer/importer to issue a warning throughout the supply chain as well as to consumers (provided that the product has already reached consumers). Depending on the actual safety risk, the enforcement body may also require that the warning is made public, eg, on the producer’s web - site and/or on the website of the Swiss Federal Con - sumer Affairs Bureau. (For information on the role of the Bureau, please refer to 1.2 Regulatory Authorities for Product Safety .) 1.4 Obligations to Notify Regulatory Authorities Switzerland follows a risk-based approach regard - ing the obligation to notify the regulatory authorities. Generally, the duty to notify the authorities in respect of a product safety issue is triggered – for consumer products – if a producer or any other person placing a product on the market knows or ought to know that the product in question presents a risk to the safety or health of users or third parties (Article 8, paragraph 5, Swiss Product Safety Act). The respective provision in the Product Safety Act aligns with the producer’s or other distributor’s obligation to notify the author - ity, as previously stipulated in Article 5, paragraph 3 of the EU General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/ EC). However, Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on General Product Safety, which replaced the former EU Gen - eral Product Safety Directive as of 13 December 2024, introduces the new wording “considers or has reason to believe” (Article 9, paragraph 8; Article 11, para - graph 8; and Article 12, paragraph 4). It remains to be seen whether the planned revision of the Swiss Product Safety Act will align its wording with this new threshold of knowledge in accordance with the the Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on General Product Safety. The notification obligation of the Product Safety Act applies where the specific sectoral law does not pro - vide for any separate notification obligation. The notification must be made immediately. Accord - ing to an FAQ guide published by the State Secre - tariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), “immediately” means no later than one to two days, depending on the associated safety risk. Swiss legal scholars advo - cate for a longer period of up to ten days in line with the former European Commission’s Guidelines for the
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