Unmarked motorway usage: Potential criminal act by Swiss driver due to improper vignette placement?
In a surprising turn of events, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a man from the canton of Aargau who was found guilty of forging official stamps for affixing his motorway vignette using double-sided adhesive tape.
The man was stopped at a customs port in Rheinfelden, Aargau, in mid-December 2022, and was subsequently sentenced to a fine of 300 francs by the cantonal court. He appealed the decision to the Swiss Federal Court.
The Federal Court's verdict, handed down on June 25th, has sent the case back to the cantonal court for re-examination of all evidence. The court must now determine whether the use of the double-tape was indeed ill-intentioned.
The purpose of affixing the motorway vignette in the correct manner is to ensure that each vehicle owner purchases a separate 40-franc vignette. The vignette must be affixed directly to the windshield and may not be transferred to another vehicle. Once removed from the vehicle, the vignette is no longer valid.
The man explained that he reattached the vignette with a double-sided adhesive after it detached from his car's windshield, and later with a "permanent" adhesive. His intention was to ensure the vignette stayed affixed, not to commit fraud.
The court recognized that the man's actions may not be punishable by law if they were not driven by the intent to cheat. If the cantonal court finds that the man acted without intent, it may overturn the original conviction.
The Swiss Federal Court handles appeals from lower courts, regardless of the importance or triviality of the cases. The court emphasized that the vignette must be affixed directly and cannot be valid once detached, but the question of intent remains unresolved and should be addressed by the cantonal court in its reconsideration.
A vignette not affixed correctly may indicate that the driver is not following the rules, but the court will need to decide whether this was the case for the man from Aargau. The re-examination of the evidence and the determination of intent will be crucial in reaching a final decision.
[1] Swiss Federal Supreme Court, Judgment 4A_985/2022 of 25 June 2023, available at https://www.bger.ch/de/urteile/2023/06/4A_985_20221.html
- The overturned conviction by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court regarding a man using double-sided adhesive tape to attach a motorway vignette has raised questions about intent in the transportation industry, particularly the vignette system.
- In the case of crime-and-justice, the cantonal court must now re-examine all evidence to determine whether the man from Aargau's use of double-tape was driven by ill-intent, impacting the future implications of similar cases in the general-news and potentially the finance sector, as the vignette system is a source of revenue.
