The Council of States discusses the new Customs Act: milestone of a comprehensive transformation

Today’s discussions in the Council of States (17 December 2024) marked another milestone for the new Customs Act after having already undergone intensive scrutiny in the Economic Affairs and Taxation Committees of the National Council and the Council of States in recent months. This blog post marks the launch of our landing page on the revised Customs Act, which will guide you through the upcoming changes.

The new Customs Act is at the heart of this transformation. But it’s much more than just a change in the law – it involves a comprehensive transformation that fundamentally alters our customs processes, the technologies we use and our organisation. Read on to find out how the Customs Act has developed, which pillars underpin the transformation and what changes lie ahead.

Customs legislation has a long history in Switzerland. The first Customs Act was introduced in 1925 and it defined the rules governing the cross-border trading of goods for decades. A new Customs Act was introduced in 2007 that better met the requirements of modern-day trade.

But the world has changed a lot since then: Globalisation, digitalisation and new security requirements call for profound reform. The complete overhaul of the Customs Act will create a legal framework that will prepare Switzerland to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.

The Swiss Customs transformation is based upon three central pillars:

The total overhaul introduces radical changes. We’d like to briefly outline some of them here – with a detailed examination and critical analysis of these changes to follow in the next few blog posts:

• Uniform procedural law: All duties – at the border and inside the country – that fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) follow the same rules. This creates clarity and simplicity.
• New roles in the assessment process: The definition of separate responsibles for goods, data and transport ensure clear responsibilities and greater transparency.
• Modernised terminology: Terms such as ‘customs procedures’ are being replaced by new terms like ‘goods purpose/destination’ (there is not yet an English definition of the German “Warenbestimmung”) and reflect the broader range of duties/taxes.
• New legal remedies: The new appeal procedure makes it easier to challenge assessment Desicions.
• Harmonisation of controls: Goods, people and means of transport are checked according to uniform standards.
• Expansion of simplified registration: A simplified registration process for smaller shipments will be extended and offered to everyone.
• New procedural simplifications: Authorised consignor and consignee will be retained and new simplified approaches will be added.
• Strengthening the AEO status: The status of ‘Authorised Economic Operator’ is being upgraded and offers significant advantages for reliable companies.

The Swiss customs reform is an exciting journey with many opportunities – and also challenges. We developed our website to give you guidance, explain the practical implications and critically examine the new regulations.

In the future, we’ll be addressing topics such as the ‘Authorised Economic Operator’ (AEO) status, the new roles and the new procedural simplifications in detail.

Your questions and input

What interests you most? What questions do you have about the upcoming changes? Write to us – we’ll be happy to address your topics.

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Keep your finger on the pulse with us. Let’s navigate this transition together.

In the next blog post, we’ll look at the new terms used in the act and explain the new vocabulary in greater detail.