The Swiss government notes that you intend to file a complaint against a company headquartered in Switzerland concerning a cross-border e-commerce dispute. Your complaint will first be registered with the International Marketing Supervision Network (IMSN), then forwarded to our State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco), an administrative unit of the Swiss government in Berne.

What will happen if you submit your complaint to econsumer.gov?

Seco derives its authority from Switzerland's Federal Act Against Unfair Competition. This law empowers seco to take legal action in unfair marketing practices disputes and where complainants live outside the country. Your complaint and the information it contains will help seco prepare a case against the Swiss-based company and take legal action against the company if seco deems it necessary. In other words, seco is not required to handle complaints individually.

How does legal action by seco affect you?

Seco acts on behalf of the Swiss Confederation and not on your behalf and can institute criminal as well as civil proceedings. Seco can act only if the marketing practice described in the complaint is unfair as defined in Switzerland's Federal Act Against Unfair Competition. If seco takes criminal action, the Directors of the incriminated company may be fined up to 100,000 Swiss francs or imprisoned for up to three years. If seco takes civil action, the civil court judge may prohibit the incriminated company's activities if they are about to take place, cause them to cease if they are still in progress or confirm their illegality if the problem persists.

Can you take action on your own irrespective of the action seco takes?

Yes. You can take action in the Swiss courts either on your own or through a representative and institute the same civil and criminal proceedings as seco. In addition, you can apply for damages, compensation for moral wrong and return of profit. You may be able to contact one of the Swiss consumer protection agencies, which have the same remedies at their disposal as seco, and request that it institute proceedings in the Swiss courts.

What will happen if you submit a complaint to econsumer.gov that does not relate to an e-commerce dispute?

Your complaint will not be entered in the econsumer.gov complaint database and no action will be taken on it. However, the principles outlined above are still valid, since the Switzerland's Federal Act Against Unfair Competition protects consumers against all unfair marketing practices, whether or not they occur electronically. You can therefore submit your complaint to seco or the Swiss consumer protection agencies by regular mail, fax or e-mail.

What will happen if you live in Switzerland and you submit a complaint to econsumer.gov about a company in Switzerland?

Your complaint will not be entered in the econsumer.gov complaint database and no action will be taken on it. In addition, seco will not be able to take action because it has authority to act only in cross-border disputes. However, as described above, you can take legal action either on your own or through Swiss consumer protection agencies.

If you live in Switzerland and your complaint involves a company based not in Switzerland but in an IMSN member country, your complaint will be entered in the econsumer.gov database. To find out how your complaint will be handled, you can refer to the information posted on the IMSN site by the country where the company is based.

Please visit the following websites for additional information on:

- seco (Legal Affairs) and the Federal Act Against Unfair Competition
(in four languages: French, German, Italian, English)

- Swiss consumer protection agencies (Federal Office of Consumer Affairs site)
(partially in four languages: French, German, Italian, English)

- Protection on personal data (Federal Data Commissioner site)
(in four languages: French, German, Italian, English)