Customs officers from the Federal Office of Customs and Border Security (BAZG) carried out an unannounced vignette inspection at Basel’s two busiest motorway crossings—Basel/St-Louis-Autobahn on the French border and Basel/Weil am Rhein-Autobahn on the German side—between 08:00 and 15:00 on Saturday 12 September. The results, published on 14 September, show 191 vehicles – more than one in ten checked – did not display a valid CHF 40 motorway sticker or its new electronic equivalent. Of the offenders, 111 bore Swiss licence plates, underlining that domestic drivers remain the biggest source of non-compliance despite a year-long information campaign about the new e-vignette. Each driver was required to purchase a sticker on the spot and pay a CHF 200 fine. BAZG reminded motorists that vignette checks can be made anywhere in the country, not just at the border, and that revenues support road maintenance and digitalisation of customs procedures under the ‘DaziT’ programme. For cross-border commuters and business visitors the operation is a warning that Switzerland is tightening road-tax enforcement as traffic volumes return to pre-pandemic levels. Companies operating pool cars or allowing employee self-drive trips into Switzerland should verify that every vehicle—Swiss-registered or foreign—has a 2026 sticker or e-vignette before entering the motorway network. Electronic registration can be completed online in minutes and avoids the need to affix a label to the windscreen, making it the preferred option for leased fleets. BAZG signalled that further spot checks will be conducted in Ticino and at the St Margrethen crossing with Austria later this month. Failure to comply not only incurs the fine but obliges the driver to buy a vignette; repeated infringements can trigger criminal proceedings and jeopardise work-permit renewals for resident foreign nationals.
Source: Unfallmeldungen.ch
