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During the border closure in the spring, the Federal Customs Administration allowed itself some freedom. A Federal Criminal Court ruling is now serious about this practice.
“There is no punishment without a law”: this principle also applies in times of crown. The federal criminal court judge recorded this when he acquitted a woman in late October.
In early April, he drove from Germany to Switzerland and did some shopping with her. A border official told him that shopping tourism was prohibited and that he had to bring the products back to Germany. The woman refused to do so, had learned of the legal situation and saw no reason for the instructions of the customs official. Subsequently, the woman received mail from the federal prosecutor’s office; it was a penalty order with a fine.
Shopping tourism was still allowed
She resisted, successfully. In the verbal sentence of the Federal Criminal Court, the judge stated, according to the verbatim transcript, that Ordinance 2 Covid-19 of the Federal Council, with which it stopped traffic on the border since the beginning of April, had not yet banned tourism from shopping at that time. The Federal Council did that later.
Legend:
As of June 15, 2020, shopping tourism was officially allowed again in Germany.
Keystone
However, the Federal Customs Administration decided to stop shopping tourism and travel abroad from the beginning of April, in consultation with the responsible federal councilor, Ueli Maurer. This arises from the judicial file. This practice was denounced to border personnel with a secret mission order.
“Cabinet Justice”
The defense had ruled on the plea of ”cabinet justice, which even in times of crisis has no place in a constitutional state,” the judge quoted according to protocol.
The court put it in a more diplomatic way: “Taking into account the principle of ‘no punishment without law’, the accused in this case cannot be accused of having known and accepted an internal verbal regulation based on a confidential deployment order of the Federal Customs Administration if these changes were made and new instructions have not yet been codified on that date. “
Legend:
Christian Bock, head of the Federal Customs Administration, at a Corona press conference in spring 2020.
Keystone
There are other pending cases related to the questionable practice of the federal border authority in the spring. 56 people have spoken out against the buses imposed by border personnel.
At that time, border officials distributed around 9,000 buses, including to people with a Swiss passport or residence in Switzerland, although under Federal Council regulations they were still explicitly allowed to enter.
GPK report almost ready
The border authority’s questionable activities have made Parliament’s GPK business audit committee sit up and take notice. He is investigating whether the customs administration acted legally during the border closure and has heard from the head of the federal customs administration, Christian Bock, among others.
FDP Council of States Matthias Michel, chairman of the responsible sub-commission, explains: “We have carried out several surveys and we have also asked our lawyers. We are practically done with the report. But we will ship it to the entire GPK in the spring. “
The report should also be published next spring, Michel said. In addition to the legal issues, you should also clarify who is responsible for the misconduct of the customs administration described in the federal criminal court ruling.
