Whoever buys anything has to pay for it. But this does not apply to one group of people living in Switzerland: foreigners working in the diplomatic service. Simply, they may not pay and have almost no fear of the consequences of non-payment, "CH-Media" newspapers write.
Fines and unpaid work
And apparently there are many such examples. The newspapers in question know of cases in which entire shipments of food were consumed and then not paid for.
There are also craftsmen who, after completing their work, have not been paid. Here's a mention of a car rental company in Geneva that already doesn't do anything without asking diplomats for an advance because it's had such bad experiences so far.
For some individuals from diplomacy, it has become almost a ritual not to pay traffic fines. But how is such a thing possible? Diplomatic personnel have immunity and are therefore protected by the Swiss authorities in terms of fines.
And, apparently, some are taking advantage of this: According to the research carried out by "CH-Media", employees in foreign embassies have left bills worth about 1.4 million francs unpaid. While the amounts of individual invoices vary from several hundred francs to several hundred thousand.
The Vienna Convention protects diplomats
Debts of foreign embassies and diplomats cannot be sought through payment requests, debt enforcement and seizure, reports albinfo.ch. This is due to the fact that diplomatic officials are protected by the Vienna Convention, reports albinfo.ch.
Private creditors must report directly to the EDA (Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs), which then reports to the relevant embassy and asks them to pay the claimed debts. Attached to the request is the note: The laws and regulations of the host country must be respected and, in particular, contractual obligations to third parties must be taken into account.
But how do creditors (injured) realize their rights if this does not work? They remain largely unrealized. The only option would be to file a lawsuit in court and request the waiver of immunity, reports albinfo.ch. This is theoretically possible, but unlikely to be realized in practice.
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