Recently Switzerland has entered into a bilatteral agreement with France, such that speeding fines from automatic cameras and parking tickets will be payable for French drivers in Switzerland and Swiss drivers in France. France has entered into similar agreements with all its neighbour states most recently Belgium and is going to be entering into a similar agreement with the UK and Holland later in the year.

The only information I can find on this is on a French website and it describes the situation from the French point of view. I would obviously like to get more information regarding this from the Swiss point of view, more specifically, what states Switzerland has entered into this agreement with and what the legal basis of this is. The definition of a bilatteral agreement is that it is a two way agreement between two states, however the website suggests that this is more a series of bilatteral agreements between states (also known as Multilatteral), the two are obviously different as the second implies that if you get a speeding fine in Germany or Italy, your details in Switzerland will be passed on and you would receive it. That only seems to apply to French people according to this website http://www.autonews.fr/Dossiers/Votr...Europe-129467/

Can anyone point me towards further information? Preferably in English or French, but Google does a reasonable job with German. I would really like to find some official documantation on this.

I will see if I can come up with something "official".

I do know that France, Germany, Italy and CH have signed an agreement to trade information so infractions will find their way to the owner of the vehicle in the other country. I understand as well that each country will also take administrative action to collect the fines if needed.

Let's see what we can turn up.

Le Matin article on the question:

http://www.lematin.ch/actu/suisse/su...mpunite-137671

Legal blog on the question. Have a look at some of the new comments as of 16.02.2008. You might find the official links that answer your question in there.

http://blog.acerberos.ch/?p=200701240012418

The only question I have is whether these speeding fines will be applied retrospectively? <Gulp> In June I drove from Basel to Calais in a record breaking 5:50 hr and I must have been flashed more times than Paris Hilton

So you're saying that the agreement is bilatteral CH/Germany, CH/France, CH/Italy? (Obviously, as a Swiss resident, I'm not interested in German/Italian agreements etc.)

Oh dear. Didn't know about the Italian one. Thought that just applied to the French. Oops.

Reason why I'm looking for some "official" information is that it looks like these agreements will spread, and it seems likely that the "official" documentation will reflect that more quickly than hearsay, and is likely to be more accurate too.

Le Matin Suggests that there is no official agreement between Italy and CH and concentrates on the official and automatic sending of fines from France, It says that the Transalpine Police can obtain information regarding infringements via the customs office in TI. Knowing the Italian Police, it's unlikely that they'll bother for small infringements, and even if they did, the fines would have no legal basis in CH. However if you decide not to pay, don't ever get stopped by the police in Italy because you'll wind up getting arrested.

It does imply that there is an official agreement with Germany, although the fines are not automatically sent as in France, and have to be manually made. In addition, it implies that it's not going to be long before there is an EU ruling on the matter.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Switzerland is slowly entering the EU via the back door.. So much for it being a Neutral State.

Castro, don't check your mailbox

This agreement with the French went into effect on Jan. 1, 2009

From the Le Matin article (in French):

"Depuis le début de l'année, l'autorité centrale française d'encaissement des amendes, basée à Rennes, peut obtenir les coordonnées des automobilistes helvétiques en infraction, par le biais du Centre de coopération policière et douanière franco-suisse."

Basically, the French can/will ask the Swiss for your information and they WILL receive it.

So did I, with a hire car from Zurich Airport, but I have already paid the fines in Zurich, I hope the I don`t get the others across the other countries

Fingers crossed...

I got flashed in SW France in Feb. I haven't received the fine yet.

I think they had enough of foreign drivers ignoring all the rules and not having to care about any consequences...

As for the EU, due to the bilaterals Switzerland signed, we are adapting most (if not all) rules of the EU over time.... in the end it will be an EU-like state, but without membership or a say in things... What can you do when you are surrounded by it...?!

My understanding (have not see the actual agreement) is that as a first step the countries will provide the address details. I think (need the actual agreement to confirm) is that there is also a legal agreement to prosecute fines from one country in the other. In essence, a F/I/D fine would be handled by the Swiss as if you had done the same thing in CH. That is the scary part.

These Bilateral agreements are not right, the Swiss nationals should get the right to vote on this, why not just call Switzerland another EU country then?, this is getting pathentically silly

Have a look at the Eucaris website. CH is soon to be a signatory to this EU treaty!!

https://www.eucaris.net/participation.php


"The following countries expressed their interest for participation in the (near) future: Norway, Finland, France, Slovenia, Poland, Bulgaria and Switzerland."

Will soon be automatic transfer of information.

and without paying for it...

Oh dear.. I seem to have poked a hornets nest!

I don't disagree with being fined for speeding.. I disagree with Switzerland pretending to be neutral when it isn't.

Switzerland won't join the EU unless it's in their financial interests to do so.. Currently, with the way the banking system works here, I don't think that it will.. They will just continue to over complicate everything by taking out bilattereal agreements with countries that they feel like..

Although I suppose I can't complain, if they didn't, I'd be paying tax in the UK, not here, and that's substantially higher.

I just wish there was an easy way to check which countries it has made agreements with, and over what.

Haha.... I seem to have read quite a few things saying otherwise... will try to find it again...

My guess is the Swiss have looked at the numbers ($$$$) on speeding and other fines and decided that it is better to trade a few Swiss details for LOTS of details on the F/D/I drivers that go blasting along the Swiss highways.

As most of you know, the Swiss authorities are strongly motivated by calculations of "what is in it for them". The very pragmatic side of things normally carries the day over any big theoretical discussions.

You mean they're money grabbing capitalists?

does anyone know hows it with spain?
got a note in my postbox to pick up a certified letter from spain,
must be a speeding fine/note. i will not pick it up n let it be send
back. i have read, the account drops after 1 year. but this info is a bit
of age... anyone?

Neutrality means not taking sides in other countries' wars and quarrels.

Obviously, the Swiss want to collect fines from citizens of other countries whose residents violate Swiss laws. For that, the Swiss need cooperation from the police of other, particularly neighboring, countries. And that cooperation is reciprocal.

I see no connection with neutrality or EU membership.

10 years ago an Italian colleague resident in Zurich at the time was getting Swiss fines in Italy (he commuted weekly for a year). So Italy is covered.

I have been fined in 2005 in Germany for a Swiss infraction in Zürich so Germany is covered.

Germany and Austria recognize each others points for some years now, like Ireland and UK are about to including bans starting with Northern Ireland.

One of the open questions is if Switzerland will start with points and agree a points exchange program.

It's all part of the EU driving license program to gradually exchange more and more info beyond just recognizing each others licenses. Even within the EU this is being done bilaterally for legal reasons.
One of the issues is the multiple still valid versions of licenses per country (there's a document on it on the EU website).
Another is the lack of consistency of points offences and fines for the same offences (see the table the TCS/DAS produces each summer).
Finally the EU realises it needs to recognize bans EU wide as it's still legal after a ban to pass a driving test in another EU state and drive back home without going through special arrangements applicable in your home state (like in Germany).
This is also possible as the rules on residency to qualify for license testing/issuance are light. In addition exchanging can clean your record from another state's point of view.

I agree with the pragmatic motivation mentioned earlier for the Swiss probably best summarised as: "Gibts geld?....OK".