To start a spare parts business in Switzerland you need no licence, and importing parts has carried no customs duty since 1 January 2024. What defines your obligations is the family each part belongs to and the role you play in the supply chain: a machine safety component, an electrical part or an electronic component follows different rules from a bearing, and a part sold under your own brand makes you its manufacturer.
This guide is written for distributors, wholesalers, maintenance companies and online sellers of spare and replacement parts for machinery, equipment, household appliances and electrical products, and for foreign suppliers delivering to Swiss customers.
Contents
- No licence, but one set of rules per family of parts
- Importing parts: customs, VAT and origin
- Product safety: when the trader becomes the producer
- Machinery parts: what the Machinery Ordinance covers
- Electrical and electronic parts: conformity and take-back
- Compatible parts and designs: no repair clause
- Selling: warranty, notice of defects and online sales
- Foreign suppliers: Swiss VAT and a tax representative
- Legal form, stock and cash flow
- The pitfalls of a spare parts business
No licence, but one set of rules per family of parts
Trading in spare parts is an unregulated activity in Switzerland: there is no authorisation to apply for, and the business starts with incorporating a company and entering it in the commercial register. Regulation applies to the parts themselves, and it changes with what you sell.
| Rule | Parts concerned | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Product Safety Act (PrSA) | Every part placed on the market, where no more specific rule applies | Who answers for safety and who counts as producer |
| Machinery Ordinance (MachO) | Safety components, lifting accessories, lifting chains, ropes and webbing, interchangeable equipment | Conformity required before placing on the market |
| Low Voltage Ordinance (SR 734.26) | Parts that are electrical equipment in their own right | Declaration of conformity, identification, instructions |
| Electrical and Electronic Equipment Take-Back Ordinance (SR 814.620) | Electrical and electronic components of appliances | Free take-back and disposal |
| Type Approval Ordinance (TARV) | Vehicle parts | A separate type approval regime |
| Designs Act (DesA) | Parts whose shape is protected | Who may make, import and sell them |
| Code of Obligations (CO) | Every sale | Warranty for defects and time limits |
Importing parts: customs, VAT and origin
Since 1 January 2024, Switzerland has levied no customs duty on industrial products. SECO puts it plainly: all import duties on industrial products, chapters 25 to 97 of the Harmonised System, have been abolished, irrespective of the origin of the goods. Machine parts, appliance parts, electrical components and tools fall within those chapters, so they enter duty-free whether they come from Germany, Italy or Asia.
- Import VAT remains due at the standard rate of 8.1%, collected at customs clearance and recovered as input tax by a VAT-registered business.
- Customs declarations remain mandatory: abolishing duties removed neither clearance nor tariff classification, whose structure was simplified on the same date.
- Proof of origin is no longer needed for industrial products intended to remain in Switzerland, but it is still required for re-export and origin cumulation. A distributor that sells part of its stock on into the European Union keeps documenting it.
Clearance procedures are covered in our guide to Swiss customs duties.
Product safety: when the trader becomes the producer
A spare part is a product under the Product Safety Act, which applies wherever no more specific federal rule settles the matter. The Act treats a product as ready for use even when it is supplied to the recipient as separate parts to be installed or assembled (Art. 2(2) PrSA), and it may only be placed on the market if it presents no risk, or only a minimal risk, under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use (Art. 3 PrSA).
The producer is not only the manufacturer. It is also anyone who presents themselves as producer by affixing their name, trademark or other distinctive sign to the product, anyone representing a producer based abroad, and anyone who reconditions a product or otherwise alters its safety characteristics (Art. 2(4) PrSA). A range of filters or drive belts sold under your company’s brand, or pumps and motors reconditioned in your workshop, therefore make you the producer. The Act expressly covers products that are new, used, reconditioned or substantially modified (Art. 2(3) PrSA), and the producer’s duties fall on the importer and the distributor on a subsidiary basis (Art. 3(6) PrSA).
Whoever places a part on the market must be able to prove its conformity (Art. 5 PrSA). For parts that consumers can buy and fit themselves, the producer or importer must also monitor risks, cooperate on traceability, examine complaints and, where a risk appears, inform the competent enforcement body immediately of the measures taken (Art. 8 PrSA).
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Machinery parts: what the Machinery Ordinance covers
The Machinery Ordinance governs the placing on the market and market surveillance of machinery as defined by Directive 2006/42/EC (Art. 1(1) MachO), and that directive reaches well beyond complete machines. In SECO’s words, the term machinery covers in particular machines, interchangeable equipment, safety components, lifting accessories, chains, ropes and webbing, removable mechanical transmission devices and partly completed machinery.
An industrial parts distributor can therefore place “machinery” on the market without realising it. Under Art. 2(c) of the directive, a safety component serves to fulfil a safety function, is independently placed on the market, and its failure or malfunction endangers the safety of persons. The indicative list in Annex V includes emergency stop devices, two-hand control devices, protective devices designed to detect the presence of persons and logic units that ensure safety functions. Slings count as lifting accessories.
| Part sold | Regime |
|---|---|
| Identical safety component supplied by the manufacturer of the original machine, as a replacement | Outside the directive (Art. 1(2)(a)) |
| Aftermarket safety component from another source | Subject to the Machinery Ordinance |
| Lifting accessories, lifting chains, ropes and webbing | Subject to the Machinery Ordinance |
| Bearings, seals, belts, filters and other ordinary parts | Not on the directive’s list: PrSA and CO |
The exclusion is narrow. The directive leaves out safety components intended to be used as spare parts to replace identical components and supplied by the manufacturer of the original machinery (Art. 1(2)(a)). Both conditions must be met: an aftermarket emergency stop made by another manufacturer fails the second one, and placing it on the market requires the conformity set out in Art. 2 MachO. SECO also notes that CE marking is not required in Switzerland: conformity is mandatory, the logo is not.
Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 replaces the directive from 20 January 2027, and Switzerland has put a full revision of the Machinery Ordinance out to consultation to stay aligned. If your business also builds or modifies machines, our guide to starting a machinery company in Switzerland walks through the conformity procedure.
Worth knowing
Never list an aftermarket safety component as an original part. The directive’s exclusion only covers the identical component supplied by the original machine manufacturer; outside that case your company places a product subject to the Machinery Ordinance on the market and must be able to prove its conformity.
Electrical and electronic parts: conformity and take-back
Two further ordinances apply as soon as a part is electrical or electronic. The first concerns its safety before sale, the second its return at the end of its life.
Conformity of electrical equipment
The Low Voltage Ordinance applies to electrical equipment used at rated voltages of 50 to 1,000 volts AC and 75 to 1,500 volts DC, and to equipment below those voltages (Art. 1). A replacement part that is itself electrical equipment, such as a power supply unit or a charger, falls within it. It may only be made available on the market if it complies with recognised technical rules and does not endanger persons, domestic animals or property (Art. 3).
- Declaration of conformity: every economic operator making low-voltage electrical equipment available on the market must be able to present a declaration of conformity (Art. 8(1)), for ten years from the date it was placed on the Swiss market (Art. 9). A distributor is an economic operator.
- Identification: type, batch or serial number, the name or trademark of the manufacturer and, where relevant, of the importer, with a contact address (Art. 6).
- Instructions and safety information: at least in the official language or languages of the place where the part is sold (Art. 11).
- CE marking: the obligation to affix it does not apply in Switzerland (Art. 4(2)). The competent authority is the Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations (ESTI).
As under product safety law, an importer or distributor is treated as the manufacturer when it places the equipment on the market under its own name or trademark, or modifies it in a way that may affect its conformity (Art. 4(3)).
Taking back components
The take-back ordinance defines a component as any electrical and electronic element of an appliance that is indispensable to its operation (Art. 3(b)): a circuit board, a motor or a control module of a household appliance are examples, the precise list of appliances and components covered being set by the federal environment department, DETEC (Art. 2(4)). It creates an obligation few traders anticipate: dealers must take back, free of charge, appliances and components of the type they offer in their range (Art. 6(2)).
- Towards whom: free take-back of components applies only towards end consumers (Art. 6(4)). For components intended exclusively for professional use, only the disposal and data recording rules apply (Art. 2(3)).
- Importers count as manufacturers under the ordinance and take back, free of charge, the appliances and components of the brands they import (Art. 3(c) and 6(1)).
- Information: the free take-back must be made known to customers (Art. 7).
- Funding: a business that pays no contribution to an industry organisation has what it takes back disposed of at its own cost and keeps records of appliances and components sold and taken back, available to the authorities for five years (Art. 9(4)).
Compatible parts and designs: no repair clause
Swiss design law contains no exception for spare parts used for repair. The holder of a registered design may prohibit third parties from using it for commercial purposes, use covering in particular manufacture, storage, offering, placing on the market, import, export and transit, as well as possession for those purposes (Art. 9(1) DesA).
Three conditions define the reach of that right. It arises on registration in the Designs Register, for five years renewable up to twenty-five (Art. 5 DesA). It extends to designs that produce the same overall impression (Art. 8 DesA). And it does not cover features dictated exclusively by the technical function of the product (Art. 4(c) DesA).
In practice, the risk concentrates on compatible parts whose shape is visible: appliance fronts and housings, covers, handles, fairings. A purely functional part whose shape follows from its technical function falls outside protection. Before importing a range of visible non-original parts, check whether registered designs cover the models concerned.
Selling: warranty, notice of defects and online sales
Selling spare parts follows the general rules of the Code of Obligations. The seller is liable for defects that deprive the item of its value or intended use, even where it was unaware of them (Art. 197 CO), and the buyer must examine the goods and give notice of defects without delay (Art. 201 CO).
- Time limit: warranty claims become time-barred two years after delivery to the buyer (Art. 210(1) CO).
- Consumer sales: a clause shortening that period below two years, or below one year for used goods, is void where the item is intended for personal or family use and the seller acts in a professional capacity (Art. 210(4) CO).
- Business customers: with manufacturers and maintenance companies, warranty terms are negotiated within the same general rules. State whether your warranty covers fitting or only the part itself.
Foreign suppliers: Swiss VAT and a tax representative
A distributor based in Germany, Italy or France that sells parts to Swiss customers may have to register for Swiss VAT, in particular when it imports the goods itself and delivers them in Switzerland. A business without a seat in Switzerland then appoints a tax representative domiciled in Switzerland to handle its relationship with the Federal Tax Administration.
The arrangement spares the Swiss customer from paying import VAT and clearance costs, a real commercial argument against a local competitor. We act in that role through our VAT tax representative service in Switzerland.
Legal form, stock and cash flow
A spare parts trade often starts as a limited liability company with CHF 20,000 of capital, the public limited company becoming relevant once stock and supplier credit lines grow. The incorporation steps are set out in our guide to the incorporation of a company in Switzerland.
The sensitive point is cash. Import VAT is paid at clearance, before resale, and only recovered with the next VAT return: across several thousand references, that gap weighs on working capital. Add inventory counts, write-downs on slow-moving parts when a series of machines or appliances leaves the market, and tracking warranty returns, all handled within our administration services for Swiss companies.
My Swiss Company tip
Classify every reference when you buy it: ordinary part, machine safety component, electrical equipment or electronic component. Attach the declaration of conformity or the manufacturer’s documentation, the origin and the supplier. Proof of conformity, traceability, proof of origin for re-export, recalls and the take-back records all rest on that one file, which is easy to build at purchase and hard to rebuild later.
The pitfalls of a spare parts business
The first is assuming that abolished customs duties also removed import VAT and clearance: the cost of entry fell, the formalities did not.
The second is selling an aftermarket safety component on the strength of the spare parts exclusion, which only covers the identical part supplied by the original machine manufacturer.
The third is launching an own brand without realising that it makes you the producer under the Product Safety Act and the manufacturer under the Low Voltage Ordinance, with the burden of proving conformity and handling recalls.
The fourth is selling electrical parts without being able to produce their declaration of conformity, or electronic components without organising their free take-back.
The fifth is importing visible non-original parts on the assumption of a repair exception that Swiss law does not provide, or cutting the warranty below two years in terms aimed at consumers.
FAQ: starting a spare parts business in Switzerland
Do you need a licence to sell spare parts in Switzerland?
No. Trading in spare and replacement parts requires no authorisation. The applicable rules depend on the part instead: safety components and lifting accessories fall under the Machinery Ordinance, electrical parts under the Low Voltage Ordinance, electronic components under the take-back ordinance for their return, and every part under the Product Safety Act.
Are customs duties payable on spare parts imported into Switzerland?
No. Since 1 January 2024, Switzerland has abolished all import duties on industrial products of chapters 25 to 97 of the Harmonised System, whatever their origin. Import VAT remains due at the standard rate of 8.1% and is recovered as input tax by a VAT-registered business.
Is a machine spare part subject to the Machinery Ordinance?
It depends on the part. A bearing or a belt is not machinery under Directive 2006/42/EC. A safety component placed on the market on its own is, unless it is identical to the part it replaces and supplied by the manufacturer of the original machine. An aftermarket safety component from another source therefore remains subject to the ordinance.
Does a seller of electronic parts have to take back used parts?
Yes, from end consumers. Swiss law requires dealers to take back, free of charge, appliances and components of the type they sell, and to inform customers of it. A business that pays no contribution to an industry organisation has the components disposed of at its own cost and keeps records of parts sold and taken back for five years.
Is a seller of own-brand parts responsible for their safety?
Yes. The Product Safety Act treats anyone who affixes their name, trademark or other distinctive sign to a product, or reconditions it, as its producer. For electrical equipment, the Low Voltage Ordinance treats an importer or distributor selling under its own brand as the manufacturer, with the declaration of conformity and technical file that come with it.
What warranty applies to spare parts sold to consumers?
Warranty claims become time-barred two years after delivery (Art. 210 CO). A clause shortening that period below two years, or below one year for used parts, is void where the part is intended for personal or family use and the seller acts professionally.
Sources
- SECO, Abolition of customs duties on industrial products
- Product Safety Act (PrSA, SR 930.11), Art. 2, 3, 5 and 8
- Machinery Ordinance (MachO, SR 819.14), Art. 1 and 2
- Directive 2006/42/EC on machinery, Art. 1, 2 and Annex V
- SECO, Mutual Recognition Agreement Switzerland-EU
- Low Voltage Ordinance (SR 734.26), Art. 1 to 4, 6, 8, 9 and 11, French version
- Ordinance on the Return, Taking Back and Disposal of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (SR 814.620), Art. 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9, French version
- Designs Act (DesA, SR 232.12), Art. 4, 5, 8 and 9
- Code of Obligations (CO, SR 220), Art. 197, 201 and 210
Conclusion
A spare parts business in Switzerland needs no authorisation and faces no customs duty, which makes it deceptively easy to launch. The work lies in classifying the catalogue: safety components and lifting accessories that must conform to the Machinery Ordinance, electrical parts that need a declaration of conformity, electronic components that must be taken back, own-brand or reconditioned parts that make you the producer, visible parts that carry a design risk, and a two-year warranty for consumers. Import VAT, finally, deserves to be managed as a cash item in its own right.
My Swiss Company SA is a Swiss Corporate Services Provider in Geneva, Lucerne and Zug, serving clients in more than 20 countries through its Swiss company formation services. We incorporate the company, register it for VAT, run its stock accounting and act as tax representative for foreign suppliers. To scope your project, let’s talk.
