The "CH" symbol is compulsory abroad

The "CH" symbol is compulsory abroad

"This summer I went on holiday with my car. When I crossed the border, a customs officer noticed that my car didn't have the CH sticker, and I was fined! And yet, no car in Switzerland bears this logo any more. Is this normal?

In principle, the "CH" sign on the rear of your vehicle is not necessary as long as you remain in Switzerland, as Article 45 of the Ordinance on technical requirements for road vehicles (OETV) only requires it for journeys abroad.

Switzerland signed the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which came into force in our country on 11 December 1992. To date, it has been ratified by some seventy countries around the world. Article 37 of this Convention stipulates that all motor vehicles in international traffic must bear at the rear, in addition to their registration number, the distinguishing sign of the State in which they are registered. This distinctive sign is defined in Annex 3 of the Convention; it must comply with certain formal requirements, such as size, but must mainly consist of one to three letters in capital Latin characters, such as "CH" for Switzerland. You must therefore affix this symbol to your car the next time you travel abroad.

As for the fine that the customs officer made you pay, these are rules specific to the country you visited, as each signatory has issued provisions for the application of the Convention on its territory.

In 1998, the Council of the European Union adopted a regulation stipulating that the Member States of the European Community must accept as a "distinguishing sign" within the meaning of Article 37 of the Convention the registration plate bearing a blue background containing, on the one hand, the twelve yellow stars of the European flag and, on the other, the distinguishing sign of the Member State. This means that in Europe, only vehicles from countries outside the Community still have to bear the sticker you were missing. So don't be surprised if the foreign cars you see in Switzerland don't have this sticker, even though it is required for Swiss vehicles abroad: this is because the European number plate contains the distinguishing sign of the country of registration, whereas ours only displays our flag.