The Federal Council rejects the fur and foie gras initiatives
Published: Wednesday, Apr 10th 2024, 12:00
Back to Live Feed
The Federal Council rejects two popular initiatives on animal welfare. These want to ban the import of foie gras and fur products produced in a cruel manner. However, it wants to address both concerns in a different way: with a counter-proposal and a declaration obligation.
This was announced by the Federal Council following its meeting on Wednesday. "From an animal welfare perspective, the Federal Council considers both concerns to be understandable," it wrote.
The fur initiative calls for a ban on fur products that have been produced under torture for the animals. The Federal Council has put forward an indirect counter-proposal to this petition. It wants to ban the import of such products in the Animal Protection Act and also control trade in Switzerland. To this end, it wants to ban imports at ordinance level.
Stuffing fattening banned in Switzerland
The Federal Council intends to present this counter-proposal by summer 2025. It emphasizes that it is important to it to introduce an import ban quickly: "Although a declaration obligation has been in place for furs for around ten years, the fur industry and the retail trade are failing to comply with it." In 2023 alone, the federal government found fault with the declaration in around 70% of the sales outlets inspected.
The foie gras initiative aims to ban the import of products from the stuffing of poultry. In Switzerland, the stuffing of poultry has been banned for more than forty years.
The Federal Council justifies its rejection by stating that, due to Switzerland's international trade agreements, import bans should only be imposed if milder measures have not been effective. It therefore wants to introduce a declaration requirement: "Consumers should be able to recognize that they are buying a product that was produced using methods prohibited in Switzerland."
Also targeting frogs' legs
According to the Federal Council, other imported products should also be better declared in future - namely those for which the animals are not anaesthetized. This could include frogs' legs, for example, or meat from animals that have been castrated without anesthesia.
The signatures for the initiatives "Yes to an import ban on foie gras" (Foie gras initiative) and "Yes to an import ban on cruelly produced fur products" (Fur initiative) were submitted to the Federal Chancellery last December. Amendments to the ordinance are required for the changes envisaged by the Federal Council regarding fur imports and the foie gras declaration. The consultation on this will last until July 12, 2024.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic