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MP: Switzerland should abolish roaming charges in Europe

From June 15th the European Union is to abolish mobile phone roaming charges across the bloc, meaning any European citizen can use their phone in another EU member state and pay the same as they would at home.

Published: 27 February 2017 09:56 CET

MP: Switzerland should abolish roaming charges in Europe

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Since Switzerland isn’t in the EU, the new agreement won’t apply to the alpine country, leaving customers of Swiss mobile phone companies left out.

Currently, Swiss customers who use their mobile phone abroad can face high charges if they don’t have a contract that includes roaming. For example, a Sunrise customer using their phone in France would pay 1.10 francs per minute for a local call, 80 centimes to receive a call, 50 centimes for a text message and 1 franc per megabyte of data.

By contrast, roaming tariffs have significantly reduced in Europe in recent years, ahead of their eventual abolition this June.

Now one Swiss MP wants bring Switzerland in line with the EU, reported 20 Minuten on Monday.

Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter feels the EU agreement will see Swiss mobile users discriminated against, said the paper, and therefore wants to “intensify the pressure” on the Swiss government to discuss the issue this spring.

While fixed tariffs currently apply between EU member states, they do not apply between the EU and Switzerland, meaning a German mobile phone company could charge a Swiss mobile provider more than an Austrian one for use of their network by customers abroad.

This is used by Swiss companies as justification for high roaming rates, but the argument holds little sway with Schneider-Schneiter.

“If the EU can stop roaming then it must be possible for Switzerland,” she said.

Speaking to the paper, a spokesman for online comparison site Comparis.ch said roaming charges were a lucrative business for Swiss companies.

“That’s why they have little interest in negotiating low prices with European suppliers,” he said.

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Why does Switzerland have to comply with European court rulings?

In a landmark ruling handed down on April 9th, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg sided with a group of Swiss pensioners who ‘sued’ the country for not doing enough to mitigate the effects of global warming.

The ECHR ruled that Switzerland had violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the “right to respect for private and family life,” and ordered the government to pay the complainants a fine of €80,000 (78,555 francs).

READ ALSO: Who are Switzerland’s victorious climate ‘Elders’?

While environmental groups and a number of political parties welcomed the verdict, questions also arose about why Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU, must comply with the decision handed down by the Council of Europe’s court.

This fact was not lost on the populist, anti-EU Swiss People’s Party (SVP).

One of its MPs, Jean-Luc Addor, questioned not only the court’s judgment, but also the fact that foreign judges have ‘meddled’ in Swiss matters.

“What is the legitimacy of the ECHR to pronounce such a ‘condemnation’?,” he asked.” Is it now going to send the European army to Switzerland?”

So why is Switzerland obligated to conform to the ECHR’s judgment?

In 1974, the country, though neutral, signed the European Convention on Human Rights.

As the European court was established expressly to monitor the parties’ compliance with the provisions enshrined in the Convention, Switzerland must heed its judgements. (The ECHR hears only matters related to human rights. It does not handle any criminal cases).

To ensure that rulings are just and impartial, the ECHR’s judges come from the 46 countries that ratified the Convention.

Switzerland is represented by Andreas Zünd, who has served on the ECHR since January 2021.

How do Swiss cases end up in front of ECHR judges?

Switzerland has different court levels: district, cantonal, and federal.

Complainants first file their cases in the district court. If they are not happy with the verdict, they can appeal it within 30 days, at which point the case will go to the higher judicial level, that is, the cantonal court.

The next step up the judicial ladder is the Federal Supreme court, the highest judicial authority in Switzerland.

Headquartered in Lausanne, it is the final instance on all appeals against decisions of the cantonal courts.

But though this final judgment can’t be appealed in Switzerland, the case — if it relates to rights outlined in the Convention — can be taken to the ECHR.

READ ALSO: What you should know about Switzerland’s courts

What ‘Swiss cases’ have been judged by the European court?

The climate activists’ case is the latest of dozens of rulings involving complaints from Switzerland.

Some of the other successful ones involved a widower whose pension benefits were denied by a Swiss court; a Romanian woman fined for beginning in Geneva; and a Sudanese man who won his appeal against deportation from Switzerland.

You can see all the ECHR rulings for Switzerland (in German or French) for the last 45 years here.

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