Free ID: Swiss municipality abolishes fees for residents
A municipality in the Swiss canton of Basel Country has abolished fees for residents, including ID, stamp duty and other paperwork-related fees.
The fees will be abolished in the municipality of Brislach in Basel country from January.
It is the first municipality to do so, reports Swiss news outlet 20 Minutes.
Residents will no longer be required to pay to receive their ID card. Currently, ID documents cost 65 francs for adults and 30 francs for children.
Other fees - including applying for drivers licences or confirming personal details for insurance companies - have also been abolished.
The local council said although it would miss out on approximately “8,000 to 10,000 francs in revenue”, it wanted to get rid of the “annoying” fees
"It is annoying that such official acts are still necessary nowadays," the council said in a statement released on Wednesday.
"We have been able to record several positive accounts in the past few years," mayor Hannes Niklaus told 20 Minutes.
“We're doing ourselves a favour, and everyone benefits from it,” he said.
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The fees will be abolished in the municipality of Brislach in Basel country from January.
It is the first municipality to do so, reports Swiss news outlet 20 Minutes.
Residents will no longer be required to pay to receive their ID card. Currently, ID documents cost 65 francs for adults and 30 francs for children.
Other fees - including applying for drivers licences or confirming personal details for insurance companies - have also been abolished.
The local council said although it would miss out on approximately “8,000 to 10,000 francs in revenue”, it wanted to get rid of the “annoying” fees
"It is annoying that such official acts are still necessary nowadays," the council said in a statement released on Wednesday.
"We have been able to record several positive accounts in the past few years," mayor Hannes Niklaus told 20 Minutes.
“We're doing ourselves a favour, and everyone benefits from it,” he said.
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