Instruments of prevention

As sales or service employees, whether in the retail trade, in the hotel and restaurant industry or as volunteers at an event, sales staff are in direct contact with customers on a daily basis. They therefore have a responsibility of the utmost importance: to apply the restrictions on the supply of alcohol to young people.

The supply of alcohol to young people is regulated by law. Anyone who breaches the law is liable to criminal sanctions.

To support sales staff in their work as prevention officers, the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security FOCBS provides several tools (see also education for sales staff and test purchases).

Training modules on the provision of alcohol to young people

In order to provide comprehensive documentation and practical assistance to the professionals concerned, representatives of the sector jointly developed four training modules on the provision of alcohol to young people under the guidance of the Swiss Alcohol Board (SAB), which was responsible for enforcing alcohol legislation until the end of 2017.

These modules are available at the bottom of the page in the documents section.

Displaying legal ages for serving alcohol:

GastroSuisse, the Swiss hotel and restaurant federation, and the SAB had created a poster to ensure that the legal age limits for serving alcohol were clear to everyone and respected by sales and service staff. This poster was distributed by the federation to its 20,000 alcohol outlet members. Other interested points of sale can order it free of charge. The poster is double-sided and includes the same information twice, presented in two different styles and is available in the three official languages (French, German, Italian).

This poster can be downloaded at the bottom of the page, under poster.