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Press subsidies
To maintain press diversity in Switzerland the federal parliament has decided, by accepting the new postal legislation in December 2010, to continue press subsidies which are delineated in article 16 of the new Postal Act.
They are to continue in the form of an indirect press subsidy which, as hitherto, will relate to regular daily deliveries by Swiss Post. For this, the Confederation pays Swiss Post compensation each year.
The draft directive on the Postal Act, which was accepted for consultation in January 2012, adopts the recommendations of a study on the future of press subsidies commissioned by the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). As such, a uniform pricing system should apply for all newspapers and magazines in the future and indirect press subsidies be passed on via a discount per newspaper copy.
The new regulation is an improvement compared with the one currently in force. It is, however, important for Swiss Post that the new model is coherently implemented so that Swiss Post's remaining customers do not have to support a possible additional press subsidy.
