SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Annemarie Lagger and Amina Chammah, Walder Wyss Ltd
nical supervision and inspection of electrical installations and electronic devices. • The Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BFU) is competent for personal protec - tive equipment, specifically with regard to traffic, sport and household needs, and for machines, though with regard to recreational use only. • The Swiss Accident Insurance Institu - tion (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 surveillance of therapeutic products and medical devices. • The respective cantonal bodies – eg, cantonal inspectorates/laboratories – are generally competent 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 competent to enforce Swiss chemical legisla - tion. 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 foresee - able 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 disadvantages that arise for the producer or oth - er distributor are not considered completely dis - proportionate in comparison with the advantag -
es 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 bodies 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 website and/or on the website of the Swiss Federal Consumer 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 regarding the obligation to notify the regula - tory 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 pro - vision in the Product Safety Act aligns with the producer’s or other distributor’s obligation to notify the authority, as previously stipulated in Article 5, paragraph 3 of the EU General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EC). However, Regula - tion (EU) 2023/988 on General Product Safety , which replaced the former EU General Product Safety Directive as of 13 December 2024, intro - duces the new wording “considers or has rea- son to believe” (Article 9, paragraph 8; Article 11,
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