Ordinance
on the Charge for the Remediation
of Contaminated Sites
(OCRCS)

This Or­din­ance reg­u­lates:

a.

the levy­ing of a charge for the de­pos­it of waste in a land­fill in Switzer­land and on the ex­port of waste for de­pos­it in a land­fill abroad;

b.

the use of the in­come from the charge to provide pay­ments for:

1.

the in­vest­ig­a­tion, mon­it­or­ing and re­medi­ation of pol­luted sites,

2.

the in­vest­ig­a­tion of sites that are not found to be pol­luted.

¹ The hold­ers of land­fills must pay a charge on the de­pos­it of waste in a land­fill in Switzer­land.

² Any per­son who ex­ports waste for de­pos­it in a land­fill must pay a charge. The ob­lig­a­tion to pay the charge also ap­plies to waste that is de­pos­ited in a land­fill abroad fol­low­ing its ex­port for re­cov­ery or treat­ment. The charge is not due if the waste de­pos­ited in the land­fill is less than 15 per cent of the quant­ity of waste ex­por­ted.

³ …³

¹ The charge rate for waste de­pos­ited in a land­fill in Switzer­land is:

a.

in the case of Type B land­fills: CHF 5 per tonne;

b.

in the case of Type C, D and E land­fills: CHF 16 per tonne.⁴

² The charge rate for waste de­pos­ited in a land­fill abroad is:

a.

in the case of un­der­ground land­fills: CHF 22 per tonne;

b.

in the case of oth­er land­fills: as much as would be charged for the de­pos­it of waste in a land­fill in Switzer­land.

³ …⁵

The charge shall be­come due at the time of de­pos­it in a land­fill in Switzer­land or at the time of ex­port.

¹ Per­sons re­quired to pay the charge must by the 28 Feb­ru­ary of each year sub­mit a charge de­clar­a­tion to the Fed­er­al Of­fice for the En­vir­on­ment (FOEN) in re­spect of the charge due for the pre­vi­ous cal­en­dar year.

² The de­clar­a­tion must con­tain all the in­form­a­tion re­quired to de­term­ine the amount of the charge due. It shall be made on an of­fi­cial form; the FOEN may per­mit oth­er forms. Hold­ers of land­fills must send the can­ton a copy of the de­clar­a­tion.

³ The de­clar­a­tion serves as the basis for de­term­in­ing the charge due; the right to con­duct an of­fi­cial as­sess­ment is re­served.

⁴ The per­sons li­able to pay the charge must re­tain the doc­u­ments re­lat­ing to the de­clar­a­tion for a min­im­um of ten years.

⁵ In the case of a delayed or in­com­plete de­clar­a­tion, de­fault in­terest of 3.5 per cent per an­num is pay­able on the amount of the charge due.

¹ The FOEN shall de­term­ine the amount of the charge in a rul­ing.

² If the per­son re­quired to pay the charge, des­pite be­ing sent a re­mind­er, fails to sub­mit their charge de­clar­a­tion to the FOEN or if the in­form­a­tion re­quired to de­term­ine the amount of the charge can­not be as­cer­tained due to a lack of re­li­able doc­u­ment­a­tion, the FOEN shall make the charge as­sess­ment ac­cord­ing to its own best judge­ment.⁷

³ In do­ing so, the FOEN may base its as­sess­ment on the res­ults of its own checks, in­form­a­tion from the can­ton and his­tor­ic­al fig­ures.⁸

¹ The peri­od al­lowed for pay­ment amounts to 30 days.

² If pay­ment is not made with­in the peri­od al­lowed, de­fault in­terest of 3.5 per cent per an­num be­comes due.

If the FOEN has er­ro­neously as­sessed the charge at an amount that is too low, it shall claim the short­fall with­in two years of is­su­ing its rul­ing.

¹ The right to claim the charge is lim­ited to ten years from the end of the cal­en­dar year in which it arises.

² The lim­it­a­tion peri­od shall be in­ter­rup­ted and be­gin to run again:

a.

if the per­son re­quired to pay the charge ac­know­ledges the right to claim the charge;

b.

fol­low­ing any of­fi­cial act by which the right to claim the charge is as­ser­ted against the per­son re­quired to pay the charge.

³ The right to claim the charge is in every case lim­ited to 15 years from the end of the cal­en­dar year in which it arises.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall pay sub­sidies to the can­tons un­der Art­icle 32e para­graphs 3 and 4 EPA for:

a.

the in­vest­ig­a­tion, mon­it­or­ing and re­medi­ation of pol­luted sites;

b.

the in­vest­ig­a­tion, mon­it­or­ing and re­medi­ation of pol­luted sites at shoot­ing ranges; and

c.

the in­vest­ig­a­tion of sites that are not found to be pol­luted.

² It shall also pay sub­sidies for a clearly defined area of a pol­luted site if that area ful­fils the re­quire­ments for a sub­sidy and fur­ther meas­ures are not made more dif­fi­cult or im­possible.

¹ For meas­ures for the in­vest­ig­a­tion and mon­it­or­ing of pol­luted sites, sub­sidies shall be paid only if:

a.

the meas­ures were be­gun after 1 Ju­ly 1997;

b.

an ap­plic­a­tion for a sub­sidy for a meas­ure car­ried out be­fore 1 Novem­ber 2006 is sub­mit­ted to the FOEN by 31 Decem­ber 2010.

² If the per­son re­spons­ible for caus­ing a pol­luted site can­not be iden­ti­fied or if he is un­able to pay (Art. 32e para. 3 let. b no 1 EPA), sub­sidies shall be paid for in­vest­ig­a­tion and mon­it­or­ing meas­ures:

a.

if the al­low­able in­vest­ig­a­tion or mon­it­or­ing costs amount to over 250 000 francs, provided a leg­ally-bind­ing rul­ing on the al­loc­a­tion of the costs is sub­mit­ted;

b.

if the al­low­able in­vest­ig­a­tion or mon­it­or­ing costs amount to 250 000 francs or less, provided prop­er leg­al jus­ti­fic­a­tion for the al­loc­a­tion of the costs is provided.

³ For meas­ures for the in­vest­ig­a­tion of sites that are not found to be pol­luted, sub­sidies shall be paid only if the in­vest­ig­a­tions were be­gun after 1 Novem­ber 2006.

¹ The Con­fed­er­a­tion shall pay sub­sidies for re­medi­ation meas­ures only if:

a.

the meas­ures were be­gun after 1 Ju­ly 1997;

b.

an ap­plic­a­tion for a sub­sidy for a meas­ure car­ried out be­fore 1 Novem­ber 2006 is sub­mit­ted to the FOEN by 31 Decem­ber 2010.

² If the per­son re­spons­ible for caus­ing a pol­luted site can­not be iden­ti­fied or if he is un­able to pay (Art. 32e para. 3 let. b no 1 EPA), sub­sidies shall be paid for re­medi­ation meas­ures:

a.

if the al­low­able re­medi­ation costs amount to over 250 000 francs, provided a leg­ally-bind­ing rul­ing on the al­loc­a­tion of the costs is sub­mit­ted;

b. if the al­low­able re­medi­ation costs amount to 250 000 francs or less, provided prop­er leg­al jus­ti­fic­a­tion for the al­loc­a­tion of the costs is provided.

¹ In the case of sites not in need of re­medi­ation, the costs of the fol­low­ing meas­ures are deemed to be chargeable in­vest­ig­a­tion costs:

a.

es­tab­lish­ing that a site is not pol­luted where that site is already entered in the Re­gister or its entry in the Re­gister is planned;

b.

the pre­lim­in­ary in­vest­ig­a­tion of a site re­quir­ing in­vest­ig­a­tion un­der Art­icle 7 the Con­tam­in­ated Sites Or­din­ance of 26 Au­gust 1998¹⁰ (CSO).

² In the case of sites not in need of re­medi­ation, the costs of the fol­low­ing meas­ures un­der Art­icle 13 para­graph 1 CSO are deemed to be chargeable mon­it­or­ing costs:

a.

plan­ning the mon­it­or­ing meas­ures;

b.

con­struc­tion, op­er­a­tion, main­ten­ance and dis­mant­ling of the mon­it­or­ing equip­ment;

c.

sampling and ana­lys­is.

In the case of sites in need of re­medi­ation, the costs of the fol­low­ing meas­ures are deemed to be chargeable re­medi­ation costs:

a.

a pre­lim­in­ary in­vest­ig­a­tion (Art. 7 CSO¹¹) and de­tailed in­vest­ig­a­tion (Art. 14 CSO) as well as mon­it­or­ing (Art. 13 para. 2 let. b CSO) in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 12 para­graph 2;

b.

pre­par­a­tion of a re­medi­ation pro­ject (Art. 17 CSO);

c.

de­con­tam­in­a­tion in­clud­ing dis­pos­al of waste (Art. 16 let. a CSO);

d.

con­struc­tion, op­er­a­tion, main­ten­ance and dis­mant­ling of in­stall­a­tions and equip­ment for the long-term pre­ven­tion and mon­it­or­ing of the dif­fu­sion of en­vir­on­ment­ally haz­ard­ous sub­stances (Art. 16 let. b CSO);

e.

proof that the re­medi­ation ob­ject­ives have been achieved (Art. 19 para. 1 CSO).

¹ The can­ton shall con­sult the FOEN be­fore it or­ders an in­vest­ig­a­tion, mon­it­or­ing or re­medi­ation meas­ure.

² The FOEN need not be con­sul­ted in ac­cord­ance with para­graph 1 if any one of the re­quire­ments of Art­icle 16 para­graph 3 is ful­filled.

The can­ton shall sub­mit any ap­plic­a­tion for a sub­sidy to the FOEN. This must con­tain:

a.

proof that the meas­ures ful­fil the re­quire­ments of Art­icles 9–11;

b.

the main prin­ciples and ele­ments of the pro­ject;

c.

the of­fi­cial as­sess­ment of wheth­er the meas­ures are en­vir­on­ment­ally com­pat­ible and cost-ef­fect­ive and cor­res­pond to the state of the art;

d.

the prob­able costs of the meas­ures and the prob­able chargeable costs;

e.

a copy of the rul­ing on the al­loc­a­tion of the costs or if ap­plic­able prop­er leg­al jus­ti­fic­a­tion for the al­loc­a­tion of the costs if the per­son re­spons­ible can­not be iden­ti­fied or is un­able to pay

¹ If the re­quire­ments for the sub­sidy are ful­filled, the FOEN shall con­firm that the sub­sidy will be paid with­in the scope of the avail­able re­sources and shall in­dic­ate the prob­able amount of the sub­sidy.

² It shall or­der that the sub­sidies be paid if:

a.

it has re­ceived a sum­mary audited by the can­ton of the total of the chargeable costs of the meas­ures ac­tu­ally in­curred;

b.

the in­come from the charge cov­ers the re­sources re­quired.

³ If the im­ple­ment­a­tion of the meas­ures has be­gun be­fore con­firm­a­tion is is­sued, the FOEN may in ap­plic­a­tion of Art­icle 26 para­graph 3 second sen­tence of the Sub­sidies Act of 5 Oc­to­ber 1990¹² grant a sub­sidy in par­tic­u­lar if:

a.

the in­vest­ig­a­tion, mon­it­or­ing or re­medi­ation meas­ure costs less than 250 000 francs; or

b.

new in­form­a­tion comes to light dur­ing the im­ple­ment­a­tion of struc­tur­al meas­ures or oth­er meas­ures un­der the CSO¹³ about the level of pol­lu­tion at the site or about the costs of the meas­ures re­quired.

⁴ If the in­come from the charge does not cov­er all the re­sources re­quired, the FOEN shall when pay­ing sub­sidies con­sider as a pri­or­ity pro­jects that were ur­gently re­quired for reas­ons of en­vir­on­ment­al pro­tec­tion or in which a sub­stan­tial eco­lo­gic­al be­ne­fit was achieved when com­pared to the cost. Pro­jects that have been post­poned shall be giv­en first pri­or­ity in the fol­low­ing years.

¹ The FOEN shall en­force this Or­din­ance and shall provide in­form­a­tion each year on the charges levied and the sub­sidies.

² It may del­eg­ate the of­fi­cial as­sess­ment of the charge de­clar­a­tion (Art. 5 para. 3) wholly or in part to suit­able pub­lic cor­por­a­tions or private en­tit­ies. This as­sess­ment shall be fun­ded from the in­come from the charge.

³ The can­tons shall sup­port the FOEN in the en­force­ment of this Or­din­ance. In par­tic­u­lar, they shall no­ti­fy the FOEN without delay if they es­tab­lish that per­sons ob­liged to pay the charge have provided in­com­plete or false in­form­a­tion.

The re­peal and amend­ment of the cur­rent le­gis­la­tion is reg­u­lated in the An­nex.

The charge rate un­der Art­icle 3 para­graph 1 ap­plies from 1 Janu­ary 2017. Un­til 1 Janu­ary 2017, the charge rate for waste de­pos­ited in a land­fill in Switzer­land is:

a.

in the case of Type B land­fills: CHF 3 per tonne;

b.

in the case of Type C land­fills: CHF 17 per tonne;

c.

in the case of Type D and E land­fills: CHF 15 per tonne.

This Or­din­ance comes in­to force on 1 Janu­ary 2009.