Changes in the overview – These laws will change in 2022 – News


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Easier change of gender entry, new rules for disability insurance, stricter regulations for slaughterhouses: various changes in laws and regulations will come into force on January 1, 2022. An overview in alphabetical order:

AHV number: Authorities in Switzerland can now systematically use the AHV number to identify people. The aim of the legal amendment that is coming into force is to avoid confusion and to increase the efficiency of the administration. In parliament, critics expressed concerns about data protection and questioned the added value of the new regulation.

Army: An independent trust center is now available for members of the army. This is intended to supplement existing internal advisory and support services in the event of problems in connection with military service and also to be available outside of military service. The aim is in particular to solve problems that are unsuitable for treatment through official channels and to identify systematic problems.

Debt enforcement: The debt enforcement offices can now charge a fee of eight francs if the debtor is asked to receive a debt enforcement document in person at the office. On the other hand, the logging of a withdrawal by the responsible debt enforcement office will be free of charge in the future.

Federal Employees: Federal employees are now granted four instead of two weeks of paternity leave. Employees also have more flexibility in choosing their place of work and working time model. Federal personnel law explicitly provides for the first time that work can be carried out on the employer’s premises or in the home office, but also in co-working spaces, hub workplaces or flexible team rooms. However, there is no right to work from home.

Legend:

Federal employees will be able to spend two weeks longer with the newborn child than before.

Keystone

Fees: From the New Year onwards, the Price Supervisor must be consulted before waiving or changing fees. In particular, he will monitor compliance with the cost recovery and equivalence principles. Parliament had demanded a stronger involvement of the price watchdog with a referral motion; the Federal Council adapted the general fee ordinance.

Gender: People with a trans identity or a variant of gender development can change their first name and the gender entered in the civil status register quickly and unbureaucratically from the new year. For people over the age of 16, a simple declaration is sufficient, unless the adult protection authority has ordered otherwise. Changing the entry costs 75 francs.

Bless you: There is also news regarding the admission criteria in the healthcare sector. Doctors who want to open an outpatient practice must have worked for at least three years at a recognized Swiss training facility in the field applied for. You must also join the electronic patient record and have the necessary language skills.

Health costs: Several health policy measures are intended to relieve premium and taxpayers. For example, all insured persons should receive a copy of the invoice for their treatments, and a national tariff organization will be created for the outpatient sector. In the case of sanctions, a maximum fine is set. The measures are part of a package decided by Parliament; further parts of it will come into force at the beginning of 2023.

Domestic violence: Victims of domestic violence and stalking are to be better protected with a new provision on the electronic monitoring of civil law rayon and contact bans. A national telephone number is now available to victims seeking help.

Disability insurance: 2022 brings something new for retirees of the disability insurance (IV). If the degree of disability is between 40 and 69 percent, there is now a stepless pension system – gainful employment should always be worthwhile for those affected. As today, a full pension is awarded from 70 percent disability. Adolescents and children with health problems and the mentally ill should also receive targeted support from specialists so that they do not become permanently dependent on disability pensions. For medical assessments, quality assurance measures and more transparency are introduced.

Climate: Car importers now also have to pay buses for the most climate-damaging vehicles if they fail to meet the CO2 target values. Up until now, importers have been able to exclude some of their passenger cars, delivery vans and light articulated lorries from checking compliance with CO2 targets in a transitional phase. In each case, these were the most climate-damaging models in their fleet. The levy now costs 120 instead of 96 francs per tonne of CO2. The automatism works because the emissions from the combustion of heating oil and natural gas do not decrease quickly enough. Chemical companies must now also avoid nitrous oxide emissions, also in favor of climate protection.

Legend:

In the future, car importers will be able to receive buses if the imported vehicles that are most damaging to the climate fail to meet the CO2 target values.

Keystone

Agriculture: Land on which industrial hemp is grown for fiber use or for use as food now entitles to direct payments. In future there will also be sanctions if farmers fail to comply with the new rules for storing and applying farm manure that have been included in the ecological performance records.

Air traffic: Airport staff will be scrutinized more closely from January 1st. Switzerland is aligning the security clearance with that of the EU. Police and intelligence information must now be obtained. Measures from the Federal Law on Police Measures to Combat Terrorism (PMT) come into force ahead of schedule. The entire PMT is expected to come into effect in the first half of 2022.

Free movement of persons: Croatians will be able to benefit fully from the free movement of people in Switzerland from next year. If the immigration of Croatian workers exceeds a certain threshold, Switzerland can invoke a safeguard clause and limit the number of permits again from January 1, 2023. However, this limit would only be possible until the end of 2026.

Prices: In the cartel law and in the federal law against unfair competition, new measures apply to combat the “high-price island of Switzerland”. One of them is the so-called geoblocking ban. With geoblocking, online retailers prevent Swiss customers from shopping directly in foreign stores at local prices. The legislative changes are a counter-proposal to the fair price initiative.

Steer: Heirs can now claim back the withholding tax on inheritance income in their canton of residence. This prevents the withholding tax from being reimbursed twice. In addition, the private use of the company vehicle is taxed at a flat rate, which now also includes travel costs to the place of work.

Animals: New rules on slaughter methods aim to reduce stress and suffering for animals. For example, there are guidelines for the slaughter of fish and crayfish for the first time. Chickens and turkeys should be able to be killed with gentler gas mixtures instead of exclusively with CO2, as is the case today.

Maintenance payments: The collection assistance for maintenance claims under family law will be standardized. This means that from January 1, dependent persons will be treated equally in all cantons if they do not receive the money to which they are entitled. Today it is left to the cantons to design debt collection assistance. You now have two years to make the change.

Insurance: There is something new in dealing with insurance: The revised Insurance Contract Act, for example, gives you a 14-day right of withdrawal. Long-term contracts can be terminated after three years. The limitation period for claims from insurance contracts is increased from two to five years. Adjustments for electronic business transactions are also being made.

Weapons: Arms deals need to be better secured against break-ins. For windows and doors, for example, higher security standards apply. In addition, there is mandatory video surveillance. The reason for the tightening of the security regulations are several break-ins and break-in attempts at Swiss arms deals. Several hundred firearms fell into the hands of the perpetrators. The additional measures are intended to prevent criminals from getting hold of weapons.

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