Tobacco advertising print media ban; Foreigners use health system more than Swiss; SWISS airline and Zurich airport delays and cancellations

News For 17 September 2024

While the National Council refused to implement the tobacco advertising initiative in February, the Council of States maintained its position in favour of the ban on Monday.

In 2022, 56.6 percent of Swiss voters accepted the "Children and young people without tobacco advertising" initiative, which calls for "all forms of tobacco advertising accessible to children to be prohibited".

The Federal Council's revision of the law targets the print media and public events open to young people.

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The National Council has voted in favour of a motion that would allow patients' nationality to be collected, so authorities can examine the benefits of health insurance.

"For reasons of transparency, the nationality of insured persons must be considered as a variable to be analysed, to examine the benefits payable by health insurance," said deputy Cyril Aellen from the Radical Liberal party, one of the move’s instigators.

The objective of this push is to find out if foreign residents cost the obligatory health insurance scheme more than the Swiss, although it is not clear at this point what purpose would this information ultimately serve.

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A new analysis by the passenger rights portal Flightright raised doubts about the reliability of the two flagships of Swiss aviation — SWISS airline and Zurich airport, despite their reputation for punctuality and reliability.

The portal compared the 20 European airlines with the most departures between June 20th and September 4th of this year, finding that Switzerland recorded both the most cancellations (2.5 percent) and the most delays (39 percent).

Furthermore, 43 percent of SWISS flights arrived more than 15 minutes late — the third-worst result of the 20 airlines examined.