Since 2014, fur products offered for sale in Switzerland have had to be accompanied by a declaration stating the species of animal from which the fur originates, where it comes from and how the animal was kept or hunted. However, as the declaration requirement has been disregarded by sales outlets across the board since it was introduced, the Federal Council announced around two years ago that it would ban the import of fur products produced in a cruel manner (see news from 14.4.2023). Last Wednesday, it adopted the corresponding amendments to the ordinance. These stipulate that furs may only be imported into Switzerland in future if they can be proved to come from certified farms that do not use cruel methods. However, the ban does not apply to fur products that are imported for personal use, as relocation goods or for non-commercial exhibition or research purposes.

TIR is satisfied that the import of fur products obtained in a cruel manner is prohibited. This is the only way to prevent domestic demand from promoting cruel production methods abroad, which are clearly rejected by the majority of the Swiss population. Accordingly, TIR has been campaigning for a ban on imports for many years. In two legal opinions, TIR has also worked with experts in the field of international law to demonstrate that such a measure is also compatible with Switzerland's international trade obligations (Stohner Nils/Bolliger Gieri, GATT-rechtliche Zulässigkeit von Importverboten für Pelzprodukte, Schriften zum Tier im Recht, Vol. 4, Zurich/Basel/Geneva 2011 / Rüttimann Andreas/Gerritsen Vanessa/Blattner Charlotte, Zulässigkeit von Beschränkungen des Handels mit tierquälerisch hergestellten Pelzprodukten, Schriften zum Tier im Recht, Vol. 16, Zurich/Basel/Geneva 2017).

However, the new regulation also has shortcomings. In particular, the fact that furs from animals hunted with so-called snap traps are exempt from the import ban according to the Federal Council's explanations on the amendments to the ordinance must be strongly criticized. Due to their unreliable mode of action, such traps often lead to the slow, painful death of the animals, which is why their use is a clear act of cruelty to animals. They also carry a high risk of false catches, which makes them questionable from a species conservation perspective. In Switzerland, hunting with snap traps is expressly prohibited due to their relevance to animal welfare. Against this backdrop, it is in no way comprehensible why the Federal Council does not consider their use in connection with fur hunting abroad to be cruel to animals.

At the same time as the aforementioned amendments at ordinance level, the Federal Council also published its dispatch on the "Fur Initiative", which was submitted by Alliance Animale Suisse (AAS) in December 2023 and calls for a ban on the import of fur products obtained in a cruel manner to be enshrined in the constitution. The Federal Council rejected the initiative, but submitted an indirect counter-proposal to Parliament at legislative level. According to this proposal, in addition to imports, the transit of such fur products and domestic trade in such products should also be prohibited. The Parliament will discuss both the initiative and the counter-proposal in due course.

Last Wednesday, the Federal Council also decided to introduce a declaration requirement for certain imported animal foodstuffs. Specifically, this stipulates that beef, pork, chicken and turkey meat, frogs' legs, cow's milk and hens' eggs must in future be labeled with a note stating that the products were obtained using pain-inducing procedures without analgesia if certain practices described in the relevant ordinance were adopted during production. In addition, products from stuffing fattening (e.g. foie gras) must now be labeled with the indication that they come from force-fed geese or ducks. The TIR welcomes the labeling requirement as a step in the right direction, but does not consider it to be sufficient. In its view, an import ban would also be appropriate from an animal welfare perspective with regard to the products affected by the declaration obligation, as the corresponding production methods are clearly cruel to animals by Swiss standards and are therefore prohibited in this country. With regard to foie gras products, a corresponding initiative was launched by the AAS in December 2023 https://stopfleber-initiative.ch/eingereicht, which is also supported by TIR.

Another point of contention concerning the proposed declaration obligation lies in the distribution of the burden of proof. The authorities can only object to missing labels if they are able to prove that the products in question were actually obtained using a method that requires labeling. To do so, however, they would have to inspect the production facilities located abroad, which would involve disproportionate effort on the one hand and legal difficulties on the other. This would make it largely impossible to seriously check compliance with the declaration obligation. A regulation that would have placed the burden of proof on the sales outlets would have made much more sense. They would then have had to prove that undeclared products were actually obtained without the cruel methods to be declared.

Together with the organizations FOUR PAWS Switzerland, Zürcher Tierschutz and Schweizer Tierschutz STS, TIR had pointed out the aforementioned shortcomings and made suggestions for improvement in a joint statement during the consultation on the amendments to the ordinance. Unfortunately, these were ultimately not taken into account by the Federal Council. From an animal welfare perspective, however, the changes can still be seen as significant progress compared to the current situation. The new regulations will come into force on July 1 with a transitional period of two years.