KARLSRUHE, GERMANY: Swiss Customs authorities have decided to inspect pizzas delivered from Germany across the border to Switzerland here the other day.
The regional chamber of commerce for the Swiss-German border region in Germany‘s Baden-Wuerttemberg state announced this week that talks with Swiss authorities on finding an unbureaucratic solution to this problem had failed.
“Considering that the demand for pizza is biggest in the evening hours, when the customs office is closed, this amounts to an export ban,” said Uwe Boehm, head of the business chamber.
Prices for pizza deliveries and other goods are much lower in Germany than in Switzerland, leading many Swiss living near the border to spend their money in Germany.
Switzerland‘s top customs official, Rudolf Dietrich, argued that the bureaucratic pizza regime was in place not only because of duty regulations, but also because of rules on food and agricultural products.
If Switzerland agreed on a special deal on pizzas, German bakers, pharmacists, caterers and couriers would raise similar demands, he argued.
However, he offered a small degree of hope when he said that “we have included the request for a simplified customs procedure for small retail shipments … into our continuous efforts to optimize customs procedures.”
