The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris are open. But the Swiss team has put sporting goods manufacturer On there in a quandary.
Switzerland wouldn’t be Switzerland if many things weren’t so hilarious.
The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris were opened with a glitzy and pompous show on Saturday night.
In front of Amherd and Cassis
The Swiss Olympic team also waved to the spectators from a boat on the Seine in the pouring rain, cheered on by President Viola Amherd and later Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.
The athletes’ clothing and shoes were particularly striking, but sadly the mixed colors of all 26 cantons were no longer so clearly visible in the rain, with only the usual red and white of the Swiss flag clearly standing out.
Swiss cross a bone of contention
But it is precisely this that creates a huge bone of contention between Switzerland and the sporting goods manufacturer On, of which tennis star Roger Federer also has a stake in, and is heavily involved.
All sporting goods from On are not allowed to bear the Swiss cross in Switzerland – because one of the most controversial laws in Switzerland, the Swissness Act, rules against it.
On the other hand, On can display the Swiss flag on its products abroad, which is where all the contradiction comes into play.
At the 2024 Olympics, the Swiss team’s uniforms will also carry the national flag, although the Swissness Act is probably not being fulfilled.
President Amherd and Foreign Minister Cassis are still cheering this on.
Production costs are decisive
The collection is not manufactured in Switzerland, but mainly in Portugal.
This is precisely the problem with the shoes, which are designed in Switzerland but produced in Vietnam.
However, according to the law, at least 60 percent of the manufacturing costs for industrial products must be incurred in Switzerland in order to be considered “Swiss” and thereby justify a Swiss flag on a product.
In the case of foodstuffs, at least 80 percent of the weight of the raw materials available in Switzerland must come from Switzerland, which regularly causes problems for Nestlé with its Nespresso capsules and Lindt & Sprüngli with its chocolates.
Bifurcation of the market
The Swiss authorities – in particular the Institute for Intellectual Property – are currently also taking action against sporting goods group On, for example in Germany, as was recently reported in the media.
The Swissness Enforcement association complained that On, with its production in Vietnam, had no right to affix the Swiss cross to its shoes.
In any case, the manufacturing costs are only 20 Swiss francs, which are not incurred in Switzerland to the extent required.
Turn a blind eye and run along
With the Olympics, Switzerland’s official team is wearing On clothing – but official Switzerland is actually fighting the Swiss company’s actions. However, the Olympic team would hardly have been able to appear without the Swiss cross.
How strange the country is. You want to … but you don’t really want to.
But when it comes to making money, Switzerland is known to turn a blind eye even to its own laws.
The Olympics seem to pose no hurdle to that.
27.07.2024/kut./ena.
