Customs rules
“Vegetable dispute” with Switzerland defused for the time being
Farmers from areas near the border deliver a lot of vegetables to Switzerland – so far duty-free. Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
At the turn of the year, customs duties on regional vegetables could have been incurred in retail across the German-Swiss border. Now there is a temporary solution.
In the “vegetable dispute” with Switzerland, German farmers and gardeners close to the border can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being. The end of duty-free deliveries to Switzerland, threatened on January 1st, will be postponed.
The Swiss customs administration informed German market drivers in a letter. “We see this as an important interim success,” said the head of canton and urban development in Basel-Stadt, Lukas Ott, the German press agency. The customs administration wanted to abolish the longstanding practice that German farmers and gardeners in the border area with Switzerland can deliver duty-free directly to customers in Basel.
However, the matter is not off the table yet: According to the letter that the dpa has received, the new directive should come into force one year later on January 1st, 2023. However, a new examination of the legal basis has been initiated, according to the customs administration.
“We are still of the opinion that the previous practice of exemption from customs duties for market goods in the three-country corner in no way violates the customs law,” said Ott. He had headed a delegation on behalf of the customers that protested against the repeal.
German farms within ten kilometers of the border have so far supplied Swiss restaurants and private households without any problems. According to Swiss radio, around 550 tons of German vegetables end up in around 45 restaurants and 700 households in the city of Basel every year. The customs administration now takes the position that the practice violates a 1958 border agreement. The duty-free import of certain quantities only applies to certain vegetables and potatoes and only to sales in markets, said a spokeswoman. A review found that other goods were also being imported.
“In the canton of Basel-Stadt, around two thirds of which are adjacent to Alsace and Baden-Württemberg, the supply of food from the region near the border in the three-country corner has a long tradition,” said Ott. “Short supply routes are to be welcomed in the spirit of sustainable development and also from the point of view of climate protection.”