This year, Switzerland is moving away from its current method of calculating road tolls. The Emotach OBUs have been phased out—since 1 January, the installation, replacement, and maintenance of these devices have been suspended. However, undamaged devices can still be used until 31 December 2025 at the latest, according to the Swiss Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG).
The current system will be completely replaced by EETS, the European Electronic Toll Service, from 1 June 2025, which will become the primary method of collecting road tolls for vehicles.
“Switzerland is another country that has decided to speed up and automate the road toll settlement system by switching to the EETS solution, which is slowly becoming the standard in Europe. The EETS system is highly convenient for transport companies, as it eliminates the need for multiple road toll solutions, allowing them to use just one on-board device,” explains Tomasz Góralewicz, National Sales Manager at the Eurowag Group.
BAZG explains that to use EETS in Switzerland, foreign carriers must conclude an agreement with one of the officially approved providers. These include:
- Telepass SpA,
- Toll4Europe GmbH,
- Axxès SAS.
For example, Eurowag’s OBU EVA will be used to collect tolls.
“It is worth noting that Eurowag will be ready to provide our customers with the option to drive on Swiss roads with our EVA OBU in the EETS standard even before the current Swiss solution expires. This will allow carriers to pay for their journeys easily in postpaid mode and consolidate payments into a single invoice, streamlining document administration and reducing costs,” emphasizes Góralewicz.
Adaptation of the law to the Mobility Package
The new method of calculating fees is not the only significant change for carriers operating in Switzerland. The country is also adapting its market access regulations to align with EU regulations.
The Swiss Federal Council has approved changes to the regulation on the licensing of road transport companies, which will come into force on 1 May. From that date, stricter rules will apply for verifying the actual seat of a company. These measures aim to prevent foreign transport companies from setting up letterbox companies in Switzerland to circumvent the ban on cabotage.
Additionally, the regulation introduces new financial capacity thresholds for companies owning light commercial vehicles and lowers the existing thresholds for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes.
“A freight transport company that exclusively uses vehicles with a total weight of over 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes is considered financially viable if its equity capital and reserves amount to at least 1,800 Swiss francs for the first vehicle and 900 Swiss francs for each additional vehicle,” the legal act states.
Furthermore, the regulation specifies that a goods transport company has financial capacity if its equity capital and reserves amount to:
- At least 9,000 Swiss francs for the first vehicle weighing over 3.5 tonnes;
- 5,000 Swiss francs for each additional vehicle weighing over 3.5 tonnes; and
- 900 Swiss francs for each additional vehicle with a total weight of 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes.
Moreover, the new regulations require companies using delivery vehicles weighing more than 2.5 tonnes for cross-border goods transport to obtain a permit. However, carriers operating vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes exclusively within Switzerland are exempt from the licensing requirement.
The changes introduced in the regulation aim to combat unfair competition.