Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Motorists who fail to have a current year autoroute sticker correctly plastered to their cars risk a fine that will rise to CHF200. The upper house of parliament has approved a measure already passed by the lower house, that will increase fines from the current CHF100. The 6 percent of cars that travel on the highways without the sticker cost the government an estimated CHF20 million a year.

The new measures also allow the Swiss customs division to hire private companies to run border area checks for stickers.

Discussions about a short-term sticker, CHF15 for two weeks, for example, for tourists, will only take place if the base price of CHF40, which remains unchanged, is increased, Hans-Rudolf Merz is reported by TSR as saying.

Reusing or trying to share one sticker between two cars is a criminal offense.

The vignettes or stickers are the visible sign that drivers have paid their annual Swiss national road tax. The tax was created in 1995 in place of the road tolls charged, for example, in France.

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