Unfair Swiss insurance under attack

Date: 24/09/1998

By Chris Johnstone

SWISS campaigners are calling on the EU to put pressure on the Bern government to change the country's 'unfair' accident insurance rules as negotiations between the two resume on a wide-ranging bilateral deal.

The Swiss association for the rights of accident victims, ASSUAS, wants the Union to force a change in Swiss legal procedures which would oblige its insurance companies to offer the same sort of compensation as their European counterparts.

The association says the long drawn-out negotiations between the EU and Switzerland on a new bilateral agreement offer an opportunity for the Union to push for change. It has written to European Commission President Jacques Santer, Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock and MEPs to highlight the issue.

“Switzerland is demanding considerable funds in return for EU transport and transit rights in the course of the present bilateral talks. The EU therefore has the right, and indeed the obligation to demand adequate protection for its citizens,” said ASSUAS president Mauro Poggia.

The association claims that current Swiss procedures short-change both local and EU citizens who try to claim compensation if they are the innocent party in an accident. It says Swiss insurance firms operating on their own territory do not recognise claims for indirect damages from accidents, refuse to make interim compensation payments and often drag their feet by demanding fresh doctors' opinions.

“In the best of cases, claimants will get a worse deal than in the EU because of the different liability rules. In the worst of cases they get nothing,” said a ASSUAS spokesman.

The association argues this is a major issue for the Union as two-thirds of Switzerland's resident foreign workers come from the EU and 150,000 cross the border every day to work.