Connecting to the world has become compulsory

Connecting to the world has become compulsory

Every year I have the same problem with a certain Serafe organisation that keeps coming back, even though I've never owned a television, radio or similar appliance because I prefer books! As far as information is concerned, I read the Tribune, full stop. Thanks to my explanations, I was exempted for a while, but the latest bill I received includes a reminder of several years and a categorical refusal of exemption. Is Serafe entitled to do this?

P.

Geneva Serafe AG is the Swiss body responsible for collecting the radio and television licence fee, which is governed by the Federal Law on Radio and Television (LRTV) and its implementing ordinance. When the Swiss electorate approved the revision of the LRTV on 14 June 2015, the fee collection system was broadly adapted to technological developments, with the aim of reducing the annual bill for households.

As part of this revision - unfortunately for you - households without reception equipment will no longer benefit from the exemption from 2019 onwards, subject to special cases which have been taken into account during the transitional period up to 2023. More specifically, the old reception fee was linked to the ownership of a device for receiving programmes, whereas the new one is a general fee. The new licence fee system came into force on 1ᵉʳ January 2019. With this change, households that were previously exempt from paying the licence fee because they did not own a reception device have in principle lost this exemption.

However, a transitional period of five years, from 1ᵉʳ January 2019 to 31 December 2023, allowed households that did not actually own any reception apparatus to continue to benefit from an exemption. The qualification of equipment suitable for reception is general and covers all equipment intended for reception as well as equivalent multifunctional equipment; for example, it includes, but is not limited to, radio, television, computers, tablets, smartphones or car radios.

However, there are still other grounds for exemption for people receiving supplementary AVS or AI benefits, foreign nationals with diplomatic status and deaf-blind people.

In conclusion, since 1ᵉʳ January 2019, it was already difficult to escape the Serafe charge, unless you were isolated from the world and all modern devices, but it is now almost impossible.