Shops can refuse cash purchases

They are more and more numerous. Either businesses encourage their customers to use electronic means of payment, or they refuse outright that they settle their purchases in cash, for fear of being contaminated by the coronavirus. Since the WHO advised to use contactless payments (for example cards which do not require a code to be dialed on a terminal, or by smartphone) to avoid touching coins and banknotes, potential vectors of disease, these practices are increasing, in Switzerland and around the world.

Pharma Switzerland, for example, has, in a checklist of measures to be taken in pharmacies to protect staff and patients, in particular advised its members to “ask as much as possible for payment without cash”, underlines his spokesperson. Before clarifying that she did not ask “in any case” to refuse it.

Also read: Coronavirus could hasten the end of cash

Do the shops have only the right to refuse their customers to pay cash? Swiss law is clear. A customer should be able to pay cash in any business. Up to 100 current Swiss coins (therefore at most 500 francs, with 100 5-franc coins) and without limit in banknotes. It is the federal law on monetary unit and means of payment (LUMMP) which imposes this obligation.

Also read: Prepare for a cashless world

A device right

Except that stores banning cash are not illegal. Because it is a device right and there is no absolute right to pay in cash, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Department of Finance. In a response to a postulate submitted by the National Socialist Councilor Prisca Birrer-Heimo who was worried about the growing obstacles to payment in cash in autumn 2018 already, the Federal Council underlined that “this is a legal provision to which it is possible, in a particular case, to derogate by contract. The general conditions may thus exclude payment in cash. In this context, it is essential that the potential buyer is informed in advance of this derogation. “

Inform before

In other words, the message must be clearly displayed. If the customer has not seen it, or if there was none, he can cancel the transaction. In a restaurant, on the other hand, the consumer must be informed at the time of the order. This also applies to the refusal of 1000 franc notes, for example. All stores could therefore refuse the cash, but if they do not, “it is for competitive reasons because they would lose a certain number of customers,” said a lawyer.

No study has been done to examine the danger of banknotes and coins in the era of coronavirus. It depends in particular on the materials used, which vary from one country to another. Some central banks keep banknotes in quarantine for a few days. This is not the case with the SNB, which, admitting that a risk exists, just as when touching objects of public use, refers to the hygiene regulations of the OFSP.

Also read: Should the cash be quarantined?

In the meantime, businesses are therefore free to refuse cash … and customers to look elsewhere. Especially if they believe that cash is no more dangerous than the payment terminals used by a host of other customers. They are likely to be numerous: in Switzerland, cash remains the preferred means of payment: a 2017 study by the National Bank showed that they were used in 70% of transactions.

–