After years of legal uncertainty regarding the calculation of time limits in connection with A Plus Mail consignments, a change in civil procedure law and a current proposal by the Federal Council to harmonize the calculation of time limits at federal level are finally clarifying the situation.
Matthias Fricker
Attorney at law and partner at Fricker and Füllemann Attorneys at Law
Studied at the University of St. Gallen, graduating with a Master in Law (M.A. HSG in Law) in 2012, registered in the Bar Register of the Canton of Zurich, member of the Zurich Bar Association.
Fabian Füllemann
Attorney at law and partner at Fricker and Füllemann Attorneys at Law
Studied at the Universities of St. Gallen and Zurich, graduating with a Master of Law UZH in 2013, registered with the Zurich Bar Registry, member of the Zurich Bar Association.
Clarity for A Plus Mail shipments within reach
No registered mail, no signature – but full effect of the deadline? In recent years, we have reported on various occasions about the problems surrounding A Plus Mail consignments (👉 Uncertainties caused by A Mail Plus 👉 A MailPlus in social security law).
After many years of uncertainty and various supreme court rulings, the much-needed clarity finally seems to be in sight since February 2025!
Saturday delivery, Sunday deadline: the A Plus Mail dilemma
A Plus Mail consignments offer consignment tracking, but no confirmation of receipt as with registered mail. A Plus Mail consignments are deemed to have been delivered when they are deposited in the letterbox. This means that, unlike the delivery of a registered letter via a P.O. Box, the deadline for an A Mail Plus item delivered on a Saturday begins two days earlier.
Social insurance companies regularly send their mail on Fridays: tactic or coincidence?
For years, this delivery practice of SUVA and other social insurance companies caused a lot of frowns – especially when decrees fluttered into letterboxes on a Saturday via A Plus Mail. Many of those affected had the feeling that a deliberate attempt was being made to set a time limit through ignorance.
Solution in civil procedural law already in force since the beginning of 2025
Effective January 1, 2025 Art. 142 para. 1bis of the Code of Civil Procedure on the fiction of service came into force. Accordingly, notices setting deadlines sent by ordinary post or A Plus Mail that are delivered at weekends or on public holidays are not deemed to have been served until the next working day.
Federal Council dispatch: harmonization of deadlines in sight
Back in 2022, the National Council’s Legal Affairs Committee instructed the Federal Council to submit a draft to standardize the calculation of time limits throughout the Swiss legal system.
The Federal Council has now finally complied with this. With its dispatch of February 12, 2025 on the Federal Act on the Delivery of Mail on Weekends and Public Holidays, the Federal Council is submitting to both chambers of the Swiss Parliament that the fiction of delivery already introduced in civil procedure law should also be extended to all other relevant federal laws such as the Administrative Procedure Act, the Federal Supreme Court Act, the Military Criminal Code and the Federal Act on the General Part of Social Security Law.
It is currently unclear when the amendment will come into force. However, it can be assumed that the councils will discuss the proposal during the upcoming sessions in the summer or fall of 2025.
Cantons under pressure to act: Goodbye patchwork?
The bill only harmonizes the regulation of A Plus Mail consignments at federal level. In order to eliminate any uncertainties, it is essential that the cantons also harmonize their corresponding provisions for calculating deadlines as quickly as possible. It is still unclear whether and when this will happen. However, it is to be hoped that no canton – as the Federal Council states in its dispatch – has raised any implementation difficulties in this regard during the consultation process.
We will stay tuned:
We will of course keep our readers up to date with further developments on this important issue.
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