Radio, medication, SBB You should know these changes in December now

Numerous changes and adjustments are coming up in Switzerland in December. blue News provides you with a comprehensive overview.

In December 2024, there will once again be many changes and adjustments in Switzerland. Drug prices will fall, SBB will adjust its timetable and SRG will switch off FM.

All changes and adjustments in the big overview.

The federal government has decreed lower prices for almost 300 medicines. This corresponds to 55 percent of the original preparations reviewed by the Federal Office of Public Health. On average, these medicines will be twelve percent cheaper.

According to the Confederation, this should lead to estimated savings of at least ninety million francs. The medicines reviewed in the current year are used, for example, to treat skin diseases and diseases of the nervous system and blood.

A price reduction is not necessary for the remaining 45 percent of the reviewed original preparations because their price was economical compared to the reference countries and other medicinal products. The decreed price reductions will apply from December 1.

The new SBB timetable will apply in Switzerland from December 15. As every year, there will be numerous changes this year.

Western Switzerland is particularly affected this year. From December 15, 2024, there will only be direct connections to and from Geneva on the Jura Southern Foot Line during peak times. Outside rush hour, travelers will have to change trains in the Lausanne suburb of Renens.

There will also be more direct connections with express trains from Lake Geneva to Valais in future. Numerous changes are also planned in various cantons.

In October, the Federal Council approved the total revision of the ordinance on the information system for the civilian service. It has thus created the data protection basis for the processing of personal data in the context of civilian service with the new specialist application ZiviConnect, which replaces the previous E-ZIVI application.

ZiviConnect is in line with the Digital Federal Administration strategy and has a microservices-based system architecture with the necessary interfaces to the connected authorities involved in the execution of civilian service.

As before, persons obliged to perform community service and deployment companies can access each other's data online to organize their community service assignments. The revised ordinance comes into force on December 1.

The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation will no longer transmit its radio programs via ultra-short wave from the beginning of 2025. The outdated ultra-short wave broadcasting antennas will be switched off at the end of December.

Fewer and fewer ultra-short wave radios (FM) are still in use in Switzerland. The remaining, pure FM use is stagnating at less than ten percent. Those who listen to the radio largely do so via DAB+ or the internet. This confirmed the forecast that DAB+ would become the new radio standard, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG) defended its decision.

A new agreement between Switzerland and the United States of America on the exchange of trainees and young professionals is intended to facilitate the mobility of these individuals between the two countries for a limited period of time. This will enable them to expand their skills in their field of study or profession and deepen their specialist knowledge.

The agreement replaces the existing one from 1980 and will enter into force on November 30, 2024. It applies to Swiss nationals between the ages of 18 and 35. Participants must either be in training or have a professional or university degree.

People who do not meet these requirements are also eligible for an exchange, provided they can prove that they have a certain amount of professional experience.

The new Swiss highway vignette will be available from December 1. It will also be valid from then. The new vignette is orange in color and has white lettering.

As every year, a transition period also applies in 2024. The new vignette must be affixed to the windshield by the end of January at the latest.

An e-vignette is also available again this year.

The federal government will receive a new Federal Council aircraft in December. The Bombardier Global 7500, the new state aircraft, is expected to enter service with the federal air transport service for the first time in spring 2025.

The new jet will replace the then 23-year-old Cessna Citation Excel 560XL, theoretically has space for up to twenty seats and a range of 14,000 kilometers - roughly equivalent to the distance from Switzerland to Australia.

The Bombardier Global 7500 is one of the world's largest business aircraft. According to previous information, the procurement will cost over 100 million Swiss francs. In the course of 2025, the jet will be equipped with a self-protection system. This is intended to reduce the risk posed by portable air defense systems.

With material from Keystone-SDA.