Ordinance
on Beverage Containers
(Beverage Container Ordinance, BCO)

1 This Or­din­ance reg­u­lates:

a.

the sup­ply and take-back of bever­age con­tain­ers used with­in Switzer­land;

b.

the fin­an­cing of the dis­pos­al of bever­age con­tain­ers made from glass.

2 It ap­plies to con­tain­ers of all bever­ages ex­cept for con­tain­ers for milk and milk products.

1 Re­fil­lable con­tain­ers means bever­age con­tain­ers in­ten­ded for re­filling.

2 Non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers means bever­age con­tain­ers not in­ten­ded for re­filling.

3 Re­cyc­ling of bever­age con­tain­ers means the pro­duc­tion of new con­tain­ers or oth­er products from used con­tain­ers.

Deal­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers shall sup­ply pack­aging only in con­tain­ers which, when they are col­lec­ted, treated or re­cycled by ex­ist­ing or­gan­isa­tions, do not give rise to sig­ni­fic­ant ad­di­tion­al costs or sig­ni­fic­ant tech­nic­al dif­fi­culties.

Deal­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers who sup­ply bever­ages to con­sumers must:

a.

mark re­fil­lable con­tain­ers as such; this does not ap­ply to res­taur­ant busi­nesses;

b.

in­dic­ate the amount of the de­pos­it charged on de­pos­it-bear­ing bever­age con­tain­ers;

c.

on non-re­fil­lable PVC con­tain­ers in­dic­ate the name and ad­dress of a com­pany in Switzer­land that is ob­liged to take them back.

1 Deal­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers that sup­ply bever­ages in re­fil­lable con­tain­ers to con­sumers must charge a de­pos­it. They must take back re­fil­lable con­tain­ers of all the products they stock and re­fund the de­pos­it.

2 Ex­emp­ted from these ob­lig­a­tions are:

a.

hold­ers of res­taur­ant busi­nesses who en­sure that re­fil­lable con­tain­ers are col­lec­ted;

b.

deal­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers who, when they de­liv­er bever­ages to con­sumers’ homes, charge an amount equi­val­ent to the de­pos­it for any re­fil­lable con­tain­ers not re­turned.

3 The de­pos­it shall be not less than CHF 0.30 for any bever­age con­tain­er.

1 Deal­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers who sup­ply bever­ages in non-re­fil­lable PVC con­tain­ers to con­sumers must charge a de­pos­it. They must take back non-re­fil­lable PVC con­tain­ers of all the products they stock, re­fund the de­pos­it and at their own ex­pense pass the con­tain­ers on for re­cyc­ling.

2 Ex­emp­ted from these ob­lig­a­tions are hold­ers of res­taur­ant busi­nesses who en­sure that non-re­fil­lable PVC con­tain­ers are col­lec­ted.

3 The de­pos­it shall be not less than CHF 0.30 for any non-re­fil­lable PVC con­tain­er.

1 Deal­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers who sup­ply bever­ages in non-re­fil­lable PET or met­al con­tain­ers to con­sumers and who do not en­sure the dis­pos­al of all con­tain­ers they sup­ply through fin­an­cial con­tri­bu­tions to a private or­gan­isa­tion, must:

a.

take back such non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers at all points of sale dur­ing all open­ing hours;

b.

pass such non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers on for re­cyc­ling at their own ex­pense; and

c.

in­dic­ate clearly in eas­ily vis­ible places at the points of sale that they ac­cept the re­turn of these types of non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers.

2 These pro­vi­sions are sub­ject to the re­ser­va­tion of the spe­cial meas­ures taken by the Fed­er­al De­part­ment of En­vir­on­ment, Trans­port, En­ergy and Com­mu­nic­a­tions (DE­TEC) in terms of Art­icle 8.

1 The re­cyc­ling level for bever­age con­tain­ers made from glass, PET and alu­mini­um shall be a min­im­um of 75% for each ma­ter­i­al. The re­cyc­ling rate of any pack­aging ma­ter­i­al is the per­cent­age pro­por­tion of the con­tain­ers re­cycled dur­ing a calen­dar year com­pared with the total weight of non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers of the ma­ter­i­al sup­plied for use in Switzer­land.

2 If the tar­get is not achieved, DE­TEC may re­quire that deal­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers:

a.

charge a min­im­um de­pos­it on non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers of the ma­ter­i­al con­cerned;

b.

ac­cept the re­turn of such con­tain­ers and re­fund the de­pos­it; and

c.

pass re­turned con­tain­ers on for re­cyc­ling at their own ex­pense.

3 DE­TEC may lim­it the man­dat­ory de­pos­it to those con­tain­ers that are the main cause of the re­cyc­ling tar­get not be­ing met. It may grant ex­emp­tions from the man­dat­ory de­pos­it if the re­cyc­ling of the con­tain­ers is guar­an­teed in oth­er ways.

4 If man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers sup­ply an­nu­ally more than 100 tonnes of re­cyc­lable non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers of a pack­aging ma­ter­i­al oth­er than glass, PET, alu­mini­um or PVC, then DE­TEC may also stip­u­late a min­im­um re­cyc­ling level and meas­ures in ac­cord­ance with para­graph 2 for this ma­ter­i­al.

1 Man­u­fac­tur­ers who sup­ply empty glass bever­age con­tain­ers for use with­in Swit­zer­land and im­port­ers who im­port such con­tain­ers must pay in re­spect of these a dis­pos­al fee (the «fee») to an or­gan­isa­tion (the «Fee Or­gan­isa­tion») ap­poin­ted by the Fed­er­al Of­fice for the En­vir­on­ment (the FOEN)³.

2 The ob­lig­a­tion to pay a fee also ap­plies to im­port­ers who im­port filled glass bever­age con­tain­ers.

3 No fee is pay­able by:

a.

man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers who sup­ply or im­port bever­age con­tain­ers with a ca­pa­city of less than 0.09 litres;

b.

man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers who sup­ply or im­port few­er than 1,000 bever­age con­tain­ers per half cal­en­dar year.

1 The fee per bever­age con­tain­er shall be not less than CHF 0.01 and not more than CHF 0.10.

2 DE­TEC shall set the fee rate based on the an­ti­cip­ated costs of the activ­it­ies set out in Art­icle 12, hav­ing first con­sul­ted the in­ter­ested parties.

3 The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion must in­form con­sumers about the rate of fee in an ap­pro­pri­ate way.

1 Those re­quired to pay the fee shall, no later than 30 days after the end of each cal­en­dar half year, in­form the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion of the num­ber of bever­age con­tain­ers li­able to the fee sup­plied or im­por­ted by them dur­ing this peri­od. Fig­ures shall be in­dic­ated sep­ar­at­ely in ac­cord­ance with the re­quire­ments of the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion and with the level of fee.

2 The fee for the con­tain­ers sup­plied or im­por­ted dur­ing a cal­en­dar half year shall be due for pay­ment 60 days after the end of the peri­od in ques­tion. In the event of late pay­ment, de­fault in­terest is pay­able; if pay­ment is made in ad­vance, the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion may grant cred­it in­terest.

3 If the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion trans­fers the col­lec­tion of the fee to the Fed­er­al Of­fice for Cus­toms and Bor­der Se­cur­ity (FO­CBS)⁴, then the col­lec­tion, due date and in­terest pay­ments are gov­erned by the cus­toms le­gis­la­tion.

The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion must use the fee for the fol­low­ing activ­it­ies:

a.

the col­lec­tion and trans­port of used glass;

b.

the clean­ing and sort­ing of in­tact glass con­tain­ers;

c.

the clean­ing and pre­par­a­tion of cul­let for the man­u­fac­ture of con­tain­ers and oth­er products;

d.

in­form­a­tion, par­tic­u­larly to pro­mote the re­use and the re­cyc­ling of glass bev­erage con­tain­ers; no more than 10% of the an­nu­al in­come from the fee may be used for in­form­a­tion activ­it­ies;

e.

re­fund­ing the fee (Art. 14);

f.

its own activ­it­ies in ac­cord­ance with the man­date of the FOEN.

1 Any­one who claims pay­ment from the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion for activ­it­ies un­der Art­icle 12 must sub­mit an ap­plic­a­tion to the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion with sup­port­ing doc­u­ment­a­tion no later than 31 March of the fol­low­ing year. The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion may de­term­ine the in­form­a­tion that ap­plic­a­tions must con­tain.

2 The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion shall make pay­ments to third parties only in­so­far as these un­der­take their activ­it­ies eco­nom­ic­ally and pro­fes­sion­ally. To this end, it may make en­quir­ies.

3 The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion shall make pay­ments in re­spect of activ­it­ies set out in Art­icle 12 let­ters a–d based on the funds avail­able. In so do­ing, it shall take ac­count in par­tic­u­lar of the amount and qual­ity of the used glass and the en­vir­on­ment­al im­pact of these act­ivi­ties.

1 Any­one who ex­ports bever­age con­tain­ers for which a fee has been paid may claim the re­fund of the fee in an ap­plic­a­tion with sup­port­ing doc­u­ment­a­tion.

2 If the amount due for re­fund is less than CHF 25.00, it shall not be re­fun­ded.

3 Ap­plic­a­tions for a re­fund of the fee may be sub­mit­ted to the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion for each cal­en­dar year, but must be sub­mit­ted no later than 31 March of the fol­low­ing year.

1 The FOEN shall del­eg­ate the levy­ing, ad­min­is­tra­tion and use of the fee to a suit­able private or­gan­isa­tion. The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion may not have any com­mer­cial in­terest re­lated to the manu­fac­ture, im­port or ex­port, sup­ply or dis­pos­al of bever­age con­tain­ers.

2 The FOEN shall enter in­to a con­tract with the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion for a peri­od of up to five years. The con­tract shall reg­u­late in par­tic­u­lar the pro­por­tion of the fee which the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion may use for its own activ­it­ies, and the con­di­tions and con­se­quences of pre­ma­ture ter­min­a­tion of the con­tract.

3 The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion shall ap­point a in­de­pend­ent third party to audit its ac­counts. It must sup­ply them with all the ne­ces­sary in­form­a­tion and per­mit ac­cess to files.

4 It may reach agree­ment with the FO­CBS on levy­ing the fee on im­ports. The FO­CBS may un­der­take to in­form the or­gan­isa­tion about the data in the cus­toms de­clar­a­tions and fur­ther in­form­a­tion re­lat­ing to the im­port or ex­port of bever­age con­tain­ers.

5 The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion shall safe­guard the com­mer­cial con­fid­en­ti­al­ity of parties li­able to pay the fee vis-à-vis third parties.

1 The FOEN shall su­per­vise the Fee Or­gan­isa­tion. It can is­sue dir­ect­ives to it, in par­tic­u­lar about use of the fee.

2 The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion must provide the FOEN with all the ne­ces­sary in­form­a­tion and al­low it ac­cess to its files.

3 It must sub­mit to the FOEN each year no later than 31 May a re­port on its activ­it­ies in the pre­vi­ous year. This re­port must con­tain in par­tic­u­lar:

a.

the an­nu­al ac­counts;

b.

the aud­it­or’s re­port;

c.

the num­ber of bever­age con­tain­ers sub­ject to a fee no­ti­fied, itemised ac­cord­ing to the level of the fee;

d.

a break­down show­ing how the fee was used by amount, pur­pose and re­cipi­ent.

4 The FOEN shall pub­lish the re­port, ex­clud­ing any in­form­a­tion that is sub­ject to com­mer­cial or man­u­fac­tur­ing con­fid­en­ti­al­ity or which per­mits de­duc­tions of this nature to be drawn.

1 The Fee Or­gan­isa­tion shall de­cide on ap­plic­a­tions for fee re­funds (Art. 14) and pay­ments to third parties (Art. 13) by is­su­ing rul­ings.

2 ...⁶

Man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers of bever­ages must in­form the FOEN by the end of Feb­ru­ary of each year in line with its re­quire­ments of:

a.

the volume of bever­ages pro­duced or im­por­ted for con­sump­tion in Switzer­land the pre­vi­ous year, di­vided in­to re­fil­lable and non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers, pack­aging ma­ter­i­al and bever­age cat­egor­ies;

b.

the weight of re­cyc­lable non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers that were used for the bever­ages man­u­fac­tured or im­por­ted for do­mest­ic con­sump­tion the pre­vi­ous year, itemised ac­cord­ing to pack­aging ma­ter­i­al and bever­age cat­egor­ies.

1 Deal­ers, man­u­fac­tur­ers and im­port­ers with an ob­lig­a­tion to take back non-re­fil­lable con­tain­ers (Art. 6 para. 1, Art. 7 para. 1, Art. 8 para. 2) must by the end of Feb­ru­ary of each year no­ti­fy the FOEN of the weight of the con­tain­ers re­turned and re­cycled in the pre­vi­ous year. The de­clar­a­tions must be itemised ac­cord­ing to pack­aging mate­ri­als.

2 Any­one who in the course of busi­ness re­cycles bever­age con­tain­ers, or im­ports or ex­ports them for re­cyc­ling, must by the end of Feb­ru­ary of each year no­ti­fy the FOEN for the pre­vi­ous year, in re­spect of each pack­aging ma­ter­i­al, of the weight, the re­cyc­ling com­pany and the meth­od of re­cyc­ling.

1 Those re­quired to re­port may also sub­mit their in­form­a­tion by the end of Feb­ru­ary of each year to private re­port­ing of­fices. In this case, they must en­sure that these re­port­ing of­fices com­pile all the data and sub­mit it to the FOEN by the end of April each year.

2 The FOEN is en­titled to in­spect all in­di­vidu­al no­ti­fic­a­tions.

The Can­tons shall en­force this Or­din­ance un­less en­force­ment is spe­cific­ally as­signed to a fed­er­al au­thor­ity.

1 The Or­din­ance of 22 Au­gust 1990⁷ on Bever­age Con­tain­ers is re­pealed.

2 ...⁸

1 This Or­din­ance comes in­to force on 1 Janu­ary 2001, sub­ject to para­graph 2.

2 DE­TEC shall de­term­ine the com­mence­ment date for Art­icles 9–14, 16 and 17⁹ to co­in­cide with the en­act­ment of the Or­din­ance on the Level of the Pre­paid Dis­pos­al Fee for Glass Bever­age Con­tain­ers (Art. 10 para. 2).