Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swiss government clamps down on alien plants

leaves of a plant
Non-native plant species can break out of gardens and cause problems for local eco-systems, such as this cherry laurel in canton Zurich. KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / URS FLUEELER

The government has banned certain non-native plant species including cherry laurels – which garden centres will no long be able to sell as of September 1.

The decision to ban the sale of certain plants to third parties, taken on Friday, follows up on a parliamentary request, the government said.

The measure is intended to prevent invasive and alien plants from spreading in the environment and causing damage.

Certain species, including cherry laurel, summer lilac and empress trees may not be sold, given away or imported from September 1. Plants that are already in Swiss gardens are not affected by the ban.

+ Read more: how alien shellfish threaten Swiss waters

The government has also extended the so-called handling ban. This means that a number of invasive alien plants may no longer be used, i.e. placed on the market, planted or cultivated. This ban applies to the tree of heaven, ragweed and giant hogweed, among others.

Import controls by customs are now also possible, while cantons are also responsible for enforcing the bans.

Of the approximately 1,300 non-native animal, plant and fungal species currently found in Switzerland, around 200 are invasive, the government wrote. Almost ninety invasive species are plants, and it can be assumed that this number will keep rising.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dos

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

No Swiss bank in phase with environmental objectives

More

Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF

This content was published on None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.

Read more: Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF
UNRWA provides emergency assistance to just over one million Palestine refugees, or about 75 per cent of all Palestine refugees in Gaza, who lack the financial means to cover their basic food.

More

Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

This content was published on The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.

Read more: Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR