Consumer protection Parliament wants new sales and import rules for imitation weapons
In future, foreign online trading platforms will have to label imitation, alarm or soft-air weapons that are banned in Switzerland. Anyone who orders them anyway will be fined. This has been decided by Parliament.
16.12.2025, 12:35
SDA
After the Council of States, the National Council also said yes to a corresponding motion by Beat Rieder (center/VS) on Tuesday, with 193 votes to 0 and two abstentions. The Federal Council must now amend the Weapons Act.
Specifically, trading platforms such as Temu, Amazon and the like should be obliged to clearly label all products that are banned in Switzerland on their websites. If they fail to do so, they will be liable to prosecution.
In addition, the Weapons Act is to be relaxed so that minor cases involving the import of such products can be settled with a simple fine if necessary. This should avoid costly criminal proceedings.
Today, public prosecutors conduct up to 2,000 proceedings per year against citizens for violations of the Weapons Act, as motionary Rieder claimed. A new regulation could relieve the burden on the judicial authorities.
Ordinance to be amended
In most cases, the acquisition of products banned in Switzerland on the Internet is done without malicious intent, was the tenor in both chambers of parliament. Blameless people often buy products such as water pistols or slingshots, which fall under the Weapons Act, and are unaware of this.
