SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Annemarie Lagger and Amina Chammah, Walder Wyss Ltd
1. Product Safety 1.1 Product Safety Legal Framework The Swiss product safety legal framework con - sists of regulations that fall into two broad cat - egories: sector-specific and horizontal framing regulations. Sector-Specific Federal Regulations These regulations apply to specific product cat - egories and include, for instance, the following. • The Federal Act on Foodstuffs and Utility Arti - cles and implementing ordinances, such as: (a) the Federal Council’s Ordinance on Food - stuffs and Utility Articles ; (b) the Federal Department of Home Affairs’ Ordinance on the Safety of Toys ; or (c) the Federal Department of Home Affairs’ Ordinance on Cosmetic Products. • The Federal Act on Medicinal Products and Medical Devices and implementing ordinanc - es, such as the Federal Council’s Ordinance on Medical Devices. • The Federal Council’s Ordinance on Machines. • The Federal Act on Electrical Light and Heavy Current Installations and implementing ordi - nances, such as: (a) the Federal Council’s Ordinance on Elec - trical Low Current Installations ; or (b) the Federal Council’s Ordinance on Elec - tromagnetic Compatibility. • The Federal Act on Construction Products. Horizontal Framing Regulations These are subsidiary, applicable and cross-sec - toral to all products, and include the following. • The Federal Product Safety Act and the implementing Federal Council’s Ordinance on Product Safety – these regulations are
applicable to the extent that a sector-specific regulation does not address product safety (eg, regarding post-market surveillance or competencies of the enforcement authorities). • The Federal Act on Technical Barriers to Trade and the Federal Council’s Ordinance on the Placing of Products on the Market according to Foreign Regulations – these regulations shall ensure free trade between Switzerland and its main trading partners by obliging the Swiss legislators to align product regulations with those of such partners, in particular with the European Union. • The Federal Act on Product Liability, which provides for the strict liability (ie, not depend - ing on the producer’s fault) of a producer for its defective products. 1.2 Regulatory Authorities for Product Safety The enforcement of product safety regulation in Switzerland is generally sector specific. This means that the enforcement authorities that are responsible for a specific product sector are also authorised to enforce the specific product safe - ty regulations for that sector. Depending on the sectoral law, the responsibility for enforcement lies with either the cantons or the federal gov - ernment. The main regulators are the following. • The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) co-ordinates the enforcement of Swiss product safety legislation in agreement with the competent sector-specific enforce - ment bodies and is, additionally, the survey- ing regulatory enforcement authority in sev - eral product sectors; the SECO also operates a product safety reporting and information centre together with the Federal Consumer Affairs Bureau (FCAB). • The Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations (ESTI) is responsible for the tech -
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