Face veils banned from 2025 Ban on face coverings presents police officers with a tricky task
From 2025, a nationwide ban on face coverings will apply in Switzerland - for locals and tourists alike. The police forces are preparing for this. Council of States member Daniel Jositsch clarifies the most important questions.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- From 2025, there will be a nationwide ban on face coverings in Switzerland, which provides for a fine of up to CHF 1,000 for covering the face.
- SP member of the Council of States and criminal law expert Daniel Jositsch clarifies the most important questions surrounding the ban on face coverings.
- The implementation of the ban is the responsibility of the cantonal police forces, which face particular challenges in tourist regions.
- Experience from the cantons of Ticino and St. Gallen shows that such bans have rarely led to fines.
In Switzerland, a nationwide ban on face coverings will apply from 2025. The Federal Council passed this ordinance on Wednesday, thereby implementing the so-called "burqa initiative", which was approved by voters in 2021. The law provides for a maximum fine of CHF 1,000 for covering the face.
SP Councillor of States Daniel Jositsch has a clear opinion: "I was against this initiative, but it was adopted. It is therefore lawful to issue such fines." Nevertheless, the question arises as to whether tourists and visitors to Switzerland will also be fined if they wear a face covering.
Jositsch says: "Yes, Swiss law applies to everyone who is in Switzerland." It is primarily the task of the police to monitor this. "I can't say how rigorously they will enforce it," says Jositsch, who lectures in criminal law and criminal procedure at the University of Zurich.
What is clear is that those who have been fined will be able to defend themselves: "Of course, with the appropriate legal remedies. But of course not against the ban on veiling in principle," explains Jositsch.
The police are preparing
As SRF writes, the implementation of the ban is now in the hands of the cantonal police forces. They are facing new challenges, particularly in regions with many female tourists from Arab countries, such as the municipality of Interlaken in the canton of Bern.
The Bern cantonal police emphasize on SRF that they will "implement the new law proportionately". "We will seek dialogue and always proceed with a sense of proportion. Nevertheless, a fine must be expected in the event of an infringement," a spokesperson told SRF.
Other cantons are also preparing for the new law. The cantonal police forces of Lucerne and Basel-Stadt are planning to inform their employees about the new law in the coming days. However, it is currently difficult to estimate how many violations are to be expected.
Ticino and St. Gallen have already posted a ban
Some cantons already have experience with a ban on face coverings. In Ticino, where the ban has been in force since 2013, a total of 28 fines had been issued by 2019, mainly against women with veiled faces. However, the pandemic and the decline in Arab tourists have reduced the number of cases.
In the canton of St. Gallen, which also has a ban on veiling, not a single fine has been issued to date, as the regulation requires an additional condition: the veiled person must pose a threat to public safety. Such cases have not yet occurred in the canton, as Florian Schneider from the St. Gallen cantonal police explained.
Implementing the ban on face coverings is proving difficult
A ban on face coverings already exists in most cantons and is primarily aimed at participants in events that require a permit, such as demonstrations or sporting events. However, implementation is also difficult here.
In the canton of Lucerne, an average of less than five fines per year have been imposed in the last five years, in St. Gallen around 16. In the canton of Basel-Stadt, violations of the ban on face coverings have so far only been punished in exceptional cases, as the canton is concerned with proportionality. The new ban on face coverings is unlikely to change these figures.
