¹ The Confederation levies a tax on beer produced on or imported from the Swiss customs territory (customs territory).

² It ensures in this context the requirements of the protection of youth and health.

This Act regulates the taxation of beer whose alcohol content does not exceed 15 % of the volume.

Beer is defined as:

A.

Malt beer (tariff item No. 2203 ¹ );

B.

Mixtures of malt beer with non-alcoholic beverages or alcoholic products obtained solely by fermentation (tariff item No. 2206);

C.

Beer without alcohol (Customs Tariff No. 2202).

The tax debt is created by the consumption of beer. Consumption is defined as:

A.

For beer produced in the customs territory: the moment when the beer leaves the manufacturing unit or is used for consumption in the manufacturing unit;

B.

For imported beer: the moment of its release into free circulation (art. 48 of the Customs Act of 18 March 2005 ¹ ).

The tax authority is the Federal Customs Administration (Customs Administration).

The customs legislation shall be applicable in so far as this Law and its implementing provisions do not provide otherwise.

Are subject to tax:

A.

For beer produced in the customs territory: the manufacturer;

B.

For imported beer: the debtor of the customs debt.

¹ The fiscal successor subroes the person subject to his or her rights and obligations.

² Are deemed to be tax successors:

A.

The heirs, in the event of the death of the taxable person or the fiscal successor;

B.

The members personally liable or their heirs on the winding-up of a company without a legal personality;

C.

The corporation that resumes, with the assets and liabilities, the assets or business of another corporation.

³ The heirs are jointly and severally liable for the debts of the company up to the extent of their hereditary share; the members personally liable satisfy the debts of the company within the limits of their liability.

⁴ If there are several tax successors, each of them fulfils its obligations and exercises its rights autonomously.

⁵ Each fiscal successor releases the others within the limits of its payment; its rights are governed by the legal relationship between the fiscal successors.

Responds solidarily with the person subject to tax or with the fiscal successor:

A.

For tax owing by a legal person or a company without legal personality: the persons responsible for the liquidation, even in bankruptcy or in proceedings, up to the competition of the proceeds of liquidation or property Estate;

B.

For tax owing by a legal person who has transferred his registered office abroad without liquidation: the bodies, by the persons composing them, up to the amount of the net capital of the legal person.

¹ The tax is calculated per hectolitre and on the basis of the original must, expressed in degrees Plato.

² The degree Plato is the original must of beer, expressed in grams per 100 grams of beer, as determined by the large Balling formula on the basis of the alcohol content and the content of the extract.

³ When determining the degree of Plato, only the first decimal is taken into account.

¹ The tax goes up to:

² Beer whose alcohol content does not exceed 0.5 % of the volume (beer without alcohol) is exempt from tax.

¹ The Federal Council may adjust the rate of tax to the increase if the Swiss Consumer Price Index has increased by 5 % since the entry into force of this Law or since the last adjustment.

² The tax owing is calculated according to the rate in effect at the birth of the tax debt.

¹ Beer is exempt when it is not for consumption but is used industrially to make other food or cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. In particular, it is exempt when used:

A.

For the manufacture of vinegar;

B.

Directly or as a component in the manufacture of foodstuffs from semi-finished products, provided that the alcohol content does not exceed five litres of pure alcohol per 100 kilograms of the product;

C.

As a stain for beer (colouring beer);

D.

For the manufacture of shampoo

E.

In denatured form for the manufacture of products other than foodstuffs;

F.

For the manufacture of medicines.

² Beer is also exempt when it is:

A.

Manufactured by an individual with his own facilities, in his own household and used exclusively for personal consumption;

B.

Used in the manufacture of water-de-vie;

C.

Free of customs duties under s. 14 of the Federal Act of 1 ^Er October 1925 on Customs ¹ .

¹ The tax under s. 11, para. 1, applicable to beer obtained by brewing in independent manufacturing units whose total annual production is less than 55,000 hectolitres is reduced as follows:

A.

90 % when the total annual production amounts to 45,000 hectolitres;

B.

80 % when the total annual production is 35 000 hectolitres;

C.

70 % when the total annual production is 25 000 hectolitres;

D.

60 % where the total annual production does not exceed 15 000 hectolitres.

² The reduction shall be 1 % per full slice of 1000 hectolitres of beer produced in less. Incomplete slices are not considered.

³ Tax rates are rounded to the nearest cent.

⁴ The total annual production of a manufacturing unit is the total quantity of beer produced by brewing, including beer produced under licence, for which the tax debt was incurred in a calendar year, Added quantities issued or used on a tax-free basis, less beer without alcohol.

⁵ The reduction shall be granted to the manufacturing units legally and economically independent of any other manufacturing unit, using physically separate facilities from any other manufacturing unit and not making beer Licensed. The tax is also reduced to the following conditions:

A.

Licensed beer accounts for less than half of total annual production;

B.

Beer manufactured under licence is subject to tax under s. 11, para. 1;

C.

The total annual production is less than 55,000 hectolitres.

⁶ The tax reduction is only granted for full calendar years.

⁷ For beer subject to a reduced rate, the tax is provisionally fixed in the current calendar year based on the annual production of the previous year.

⁸ Imported beer from a foreign independent manufacturing unit with a total annual production of less than 55,000 hectolitres is taxed at the reduced rate on presentation of an official certificate.

¹ Every person who intends to manufacture beer on a professional basis in the customs territory shall announce it to the customs administration at least 30 days before the beginning of the manufacture to be entered in the register of beer manufacturers.

² To be registered, the manufacturer must be domiciled in the customs territory or be registered in the trade register.

³ Any change in the name, home or registration of the trade register must be immediately announced to the customs administration.

⁴ Every person who ceases to make beer on a professional basis shall be removed from the register.

⁵ The register is public.

The tax on beer produced in the customs territory is due for each calendar quarter (counting period).

¹ The manufacturer shall spontaneously declare the tax owing, in the prescribed form, to the customs administration within 20 days after the expiry of the counting period. If the liability is terminated before the expiry of the counting period, the time limit for filing the return begins to run from the end of the liability.

² The return is binding on the manufacturer and is used to determine the amount of tax. The result of official control is reserved.

³ If the customs administration disputes the declaration, it sets the amount of the tax by decision.

The manufacturer shall pay the tax payable to the customs administration for beer produced in the customs territory within 30 days after the expiry of the counting period. If the liability is terminated before the expiry of the counting period, the payment period starts to run from the end of the liability.

The manufacturer is entitled to the refund of the tax levied on beer produced in the customs territory where the tax was wrongly collected.

¹ The manufacturer is entitled to a refund of the tax levied on beer produced in the customs territory when it is:

A.

Exported under customs supervision;

B.

Withdrawn from sale (beer returned).

² The refund must be requested within one year from the date of the birth of the right to the refund.

¹ The right to a refund or refund shall be limited to five years from the end of the calendar year in which it arose.

² The limitation period shall be interrupted by any exercise of this right to the customs administration.

³ It shall be suspended as long as a decision, complaint or appeal procedure relating to the right which the applicant claims is pending.

⁴ The right to restitution and reimbursement shall be prescribed in all cases by 15 years from the end of the calendar year in which it arose.

¹ If the tax payable on beer produced in the customs territory has not been fixed or has been set too low, the customs administration shall collect the amount due before the expiry of the limitation period.

² Where appropriate, taxation shall be carried out by way of assessment on the basis of the facts known to it.

¹ The tax claim shall be prescribed for five years from the end of the calendar year in which it arose.

² The prescription is interrupted:

A.

Recognition of the tax claim by the person subject to the tax;

B.

By any official act claiming the tax claim communicated to the taxable person.

³ The limitation period is suspended until the person subject to tax can be prosecuted in Switzerland.

⁴ The suspension and suspension have effect in respect of all persons required to pay the tax.

⁵ The tax claim is prescribed in all cases by 15 years from the end of the calendar year in which it arose.

¹ If an amount owing has been wrongly refunded, the customs administration claims the refund.

² The right to restitution shall be limited to five years from the time when the customs administration has been informed of this right, but no later than ten years from the date of the birth of the right.

³ The limitation period is interrupted by any official act claiming restitution; it is suspended until the person liable for payment can be prosecuted in Switzerland.

¹ In the event of a delay in the payment of the tax, a moratorium is due, without warning, from its liability.

² A moratorium interest is payable from the time the tax was returned or incorrectly refunded.

³ The customs administration must have a remunerative interest from the time it collected an amount erroneously or did not refund an amount incorrectly.

⁴ The Federal Council may provide for exceptions to the perception of the moratorium.

⁵ The Federal Department of Finance sets interest rates.

¹ The Confederation has, in the following cases, a legal lien on beer produced in the customs territory and subject to tax: ¹

A.

Whether tax collection appears to be compromised;

B.

If the taxable person is late in paying the tax.

² The tax pledge also applies to beer for which the tax debt has not yet arisen.

³ The procedure is governed by the provisions applicable to customs duties.

¹ Where the tax claim is not guaranteed by a sufficient and feasible tax guarantee, the customs administration may require security in the following cases, even though that claim is not yet due:

A.

Whether tax collection appears to be compromised;

B.

If the taxable person is late in paying the tax.

² Security rights may be provided in the form of a cash deposit, a deposit of securities or a security deposit.

³ The procedure is governed by the provisions applicable to customs duties.

¹ A person who manufactures beer in the customs territory shall keep a complete record of his activities. The Federal Council regulates the modalities. The customs administration may prescribe the use of specified forms.

² The customs administration may require the manufacturer to provide the information it deems necessary and to be presented with the books, business papers and documents that may be important for the purposes of this Act.

³ Records must be retained for ten years.

⁴ The customs administration may proceed at any time without prior notice to the controls of the manufacturing units, warehouses and other commercial premises, as well as the accounts if necessary.

The provisions and procedures of the customs legislation shall apply to beer imported into the customs territory provided that this Law and its implementing provisions do not otherwise provide for it.

¹ The tax collected on importation shall be refunded upon request, subject to the following conditions:

A.

Beer is re-exported, as is, within one year from customs clearance;

B.

It is proven that the beer exported is identical to the previously imported beer;

C.

The refund application is made at the time of export clearance.

² Subsequent claims will be reviewed if they are submitted in writing, within 60 days of the release of the export, to the direction of the district in which the re-export took place.

³ The refund is also granted for beer which, instead of being re-exported, is destroyed at the request of the debtor of the customs debt on the customs territory.

Art. 25 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

¹ Decisions made at first instance by the Directorate General of Customs may be the subject of a complaint to the Directorate General of Customs within 30 days of their notification. Decisions to requisition security rights are an exception.

² The complaint procedure is governed by the Federal Act of 20 December 1968 on the administrative procedure ¹ .

¹ The decisions of the customs offices may be appealed to the district directorates.

² The decisions of the first instance of the district directorates may be appealed to the Directorate General of Customs.

³ The customs administration is represented by the Customs Branch in proceedings before the Federal Administrative Tribunal and the Federal Court.

⁴ The period of appeal at first instance against taxation by customs offices shall be 60 days from the date of the establishment of the taxation decision.

⁵ Appeals against decisions to requisition security rights in the Customs Branch shall not have suspensory effect.

⁶ Moreover, the appeal procedure is governed by the general provisions on the federal procedure.

The following are tax offences:

A.

The threat of the tax;

B.

The removal of the tax;

C.

The tax recel;

D.

The diversion of the tax pledge.

¹ Any person who, intentionally or negligently, at the time of manufacture in Switzerland or the importation of beer, by non-declaration, concealination or incorrect declaration, or in any other manner, subtracts the tax or puts it at risk completely or Partially, or procures or provides to a third party an unlawful tax advantage in any other manner, is liable to a fine of up to five times the amount of tax exempt or endangered, or of the unlawful advantage.

² In the event of aggravating circumstances, the maximum amount of the fine shall be increased by half. A custodial sentence of not more than one year may also be imposed ¹ . Deemed aggravating circumstances:

A.

Hiring one or more persons to commit an offence;

B.

Committing offences by profession or by habit.

³ If the amount of tax deducted or put at risk cannot be determined exactly, it is assessed by the customs administration.

⁴ Art. 14 to 16 of the Federal Act of 22 March 1974 on Administrative Criminal Law (DPA) ² Are reserved.

Any person who acquires, receives in donation, pledge or otherwise care, conceals, flows, assists in the sale or circulation of beer that he or she knows or must presume that it has been subtracted from the tax to which it is subject, Liable to the penalty applicable to the perpetrators of the offence.

Any person who, if left in possession of beer seized as a tax pledge by the customs administration, destroys or dispossof it intentionally without the consent of the customs administration, shall be liable to a fine of up to five times The value of beer calculated during the internal market.

¹ Attempting to commit a tax offence is punishable.

² It is punishable by a fine of up to twice the amount of tax put at risk.

If the fine is not more than 100,000 francs and the investigation of persons punishable under s. 6 DPA ¹ Implies measures of instruction out of proportion to the penalty incurred, the authority may waive the right to prosecute these persons and order the undertaking (art. 7 CCA) for the payment of the fine.

If an offence constitutes both a subtraction, a endangerability or a recal of the tax and an offence to other laws of the Confederation pursued by the customs administration, the penalty is that which is provided for For the most serious offence; it may be increased appropriately.

Every person who contravening, intentionally or through gross negligence, a provision of this Act, a performance provision of which the non-compliance is declared to be punishable, or a decision made at its place and served under threat of Penalty provided for in this Article shall be punishable by a fine of not more than 5000 francs.

¹ Offences prosecuted and tried in accordance with CCA ¹ .

² Prosecution and prosecution are the responsibility of the customs administration.

³ The requirement of criminal action within the meaning of s. 11, para. 2, CCA applies to all tax offences.

¹ The Federal Council shall issue the implementing provisions.

² The customs administration shall execute this Act.

... ¹

¹ Every person who is listed in the register of beer manufacturers under the former right is deemed to be registered under s. 15.

² Decisions made in force under the old right are not affected by the new right.

³ The procedures for the tax on beer outstanding at the time of entry into force of this Law shall be carried out in accordance with the former right.

⁴ The new right applies to complaint and appeal procedures. The tax liability and the tax rate are governed by the former right.

¹ This Law shall be subject to the referendum.

² The Federal Council shall fix the date of entry into force.