I have been living here for 10 years and in that time they were always required (I have 4 kids), when were they "not previously required", just out of interest

PS; robyn.oz What is 2.75 yo I have never heard a child being called this b4

Good web site and has links to other countries with the rules in English for those countries.

http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/index.htm

Switzerland has had previous rules regarding car seats and I suspect are just catching up to EU rules so to speak as they are in a Bi lateral agreement with the EU.
My tip is when you buy a car seat for older children make sure it is good till the age of 12 just in case you don't have tall kids

were there any police out checking today?

For those of us with kids that were not previously required to use a seat, a 20CHF booster will do the job. I checked the label on the one I bought a few years ago and it meets the requirement. The official link is http://www.astra.admin.ch/dienstleis...x.html?lang=de

Some of you may have missed this: I can't find any posts after middle February about this subject. Taxis and clubs also have to comply.

From 1 April 2010, children aged below twelve years or measuring less than 150 cm tall (whichever comes first) must use a child restraint seat. Up to now the age limit was seven years, which compared with EU countries was very low.

http://www.tcs.ch/main/de/home/auto_...ndersitze.html

The seat must be tested to ECE standards, version 44.03 or 44.04 (Check the label attached to the seat)
http://www.tcs-schwyz.ch/cms/ratgebe...is-zwoelf.html

A temporary exception until 31.12.2012 is if the child sits in the middle on the back seat, and uses the lap belt.
http://www.tcs-schwyz.ch/cms/images/...e_ausnahme.pdf in this case you should use an older pre- 1995 riser seat, the sort which fixes with only the lap belt.

Hi
How I can check if my car seat is ok with the new rule....some guidance please...
thanks

Hope that's clearer.

Hi, We are new in Switzerland and since it is not an EU country, can anyone advise if the EU car seat laws suffice here? we have a maxi cosi cabriofix for our smaller daughter and the Easycarseat inflatable car seat for our 5 year old. Both carry the ECE R44/04 safety badge only. (Switzerland is not mentioned in any of the manuals)

Thank you in advance,
johana

The red badge is the essential bit. R44/03 and /04 are required.

thank you, ECE R44/03 and 04 is printed on the seats but which badge should be in red colour?

I seem to remember mine are red but I'm sure they can be another colour. I have a Cabriofix myself but used the EasyFix base.

Wow! I have never seen an inflatable car seat before(!)

The babies seat is exactly what people use here, but I am not sure about your "big boy"s seat.

Here is a link to the local Automobile Association, where the rules and recommendations are written.

http://www.tcs.ch/main/de/home/auto_...ndersitze.html
It has a list of "advised" car seats.
It also says that from 7 years old, all they need is a booster - at Coop Bau & Hobby they are about 30chf.

Maybe go to a local babyshop, where you can buy child car seats, and ask them, or at your local police station.

Not just a question of "getting caught" with the wrong seat, but also a question of safety for your child with some of the loons on the road here..

Sorry if this has been answered before, I did a search but did not get the exact answer.

We will have visitors in june/july (2 families = 4 adults+ 3 kids).

So including us it would be 6 adults 3 kids.
2 kids are 4 years old and the other is 7 years old.

we are planning to rent a family car for the trip.
What are the laws? do we need to rent a car that should have 3 additional kid seats, or will it be possible to "adjust the little ones on the lap? " .

Thanks

You will need a vehicle with 9 seats.

Tom

The law is pretty black and white on this. Car seats for all below age of 12 I believe. Certainly the 7 year old will be included in the category needing a car/booster seat. The four-year olds will also need car seats, but could also be big enough to fit in a booster seat - ours certainly are.

By booster, I mean one of these:



And not one of these:

The rear seat is the preferred option. But from my understanding the front seat is allowed.

http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/law/index.htm

What is NOT allowed is to use the front seat with a 'rear facing' baby seat with an air bag. - Most likely reason is to avoid suffication, i.e. the airbag could push the child seat into the back of the chair and cause suffication or injury. The air bag is designed to stop the person moving forwards....

But older children facing forwards are allowed provided they have a child seat and seat belt.

Yes, the law is black and white - even if you've interpreted it incorrectly.

For a child less than than 12 years old, or 150cm tall, both types of booster seat that you have shown are valid (and not just the top image).

HTH

There are actually two determiners:
1) Under 12 yrs. or
2) under 150cm.
-- whichever is reached first.

My 11 yr. old daughter is over 150cm and doesn't need to use a booster seat.
However, strangely, once a child has reached their 12th birthday, even if they are still less than 150cm, they too, don't need to use one.
Looking at it logically, the height of the child is more relevant than the age, due to the position of the belt, and how effectively it would work, when needed.

I think there still seems to be some confusion recently posted here. The early part of this thread before recently revived contains the correct info from my understanding.

-If over 12 years old or over 150cm, don't need a car seat at all.
-The two seats shown, booster seat with back and booser seat alone are legally valid to use if has correct EEC code for those under 12 years/150cm. TCS recommends the one with the fixed back as it gives better protection but the other one is still perfectly legal.
-Refer to the TCS site previously noted in thread for the details.

Yes, sorry - what I was trying to say that both types of booster seat were valid which was not what was being implied earlier.