Sunday driving ban in Switzerland in 1956

Uraniastrasse in Zurich on one of the Sundays

Hungarian refugees in Buchs SG

The first Sunday driving ban in Switzerland applied on four consecutive Sundays in 1956 and was based on the War Provisioning Act of September 30, 1955, Article 18. Since there were no large oil stocks, a supply bottleneck was to be prevented. The ban was related to a tense political environment, triggered by the Hungarian uprising and the Suez crisis . The Swiss government saw in this double crisis "the threat of a third world war and another test of strength with all its tragic consequences". Switzerland does not have its own fossil fuel reserves, but is completely dependent on imports. On Friday, November 16, 1956, the Federal Council announced the immediate entry into force of this ordinance. The four Sundays affected were November 18th and 25th and December 2nd and 9th. At the end of November 1973 the driving ban was repeated for three Sundays as part of the oil shock .

background

In 1955, on the occasion of the Geneva summit conference , the four victorious powers of World War II, the USA , the USSR , Great Britain and France , met to work towards the reunification of Germany . In addition to the role of host, Switzerland continued to feel obliged to work towards peace within the framework of its neutrality, and from mid-November provided the UN with Swissair transport aircraft . The UN sent peacekeeping troops to Egypt . At the time of the order for the Sunday driving ban, 4,000 Hungarian refugees had already been brought into the country for humanitarian reasons by the Swiss Red Cross , and a further 6,000 were to follow.

In a strictly confidential communication of August 29, 1956, the Swiss National Bank referred to the monetary policy repercussions of the Suez Canal conflict. It was impressively described that the political and thus also the economic influence of the allied great powers in the Middle East was declining and the Soviet influence was increasing. As a result, the local governments would prefer to part with cash reserves in US dollars and British pounds in favor of Swiss francs . Kuwait , for example, intends to move "its sterling reserves, which are said to be worth more than three billion Swiss francs, with the idea of transferring a substantial part of them in Swiss francs."

The National Bank stated that these changes were the result of Soviet plans. An expected weakening of the British pound would result in support purchases by the British monetary authorities in order to stabilize the pound exchange rate. However, Switzerland is not economically strong enough to cope with money transfers of the expected size. In addition, an increase in the value of the franc would have fatal consequences for the domestic economy.

For the national bankers, these foreign exchange transfers could only be realized in the “sale of dollars [...] from the liquidation of sterling or dollar balances in America or, finally, from the sale of gold in London”. Switzerland viewed these events with great suspicion: First of all, because of currency policy concerns, because it would build up an immense volume of francs that is unrelated to Switzerland's economic strength. At that time, the National Bank did not see itself in the role of looking after a world currency and feared an excess of domestic purchasing power and the associated risk of inflation.

In second place, the National Bank's report warned of political dangers. He drew attention to the neutrality between East and West and that Switzerland should not intervene in the conflict with its currency in order to interfere with conflicting interests. Although she questioned whether political neutrality also applies to payment and capital transactions, she sees it as her task to influence the maintenance of the monetary balance. Third, the banking point of view was pointed out. The proposed solution was to prohibit the exchange of foreign currency, i.e. the purchase of Swiss francs without any connection with the purchase of goods or services from Switzerland.

Draft and resolution on the Sunday driving ban

In mid-September 1956, on the proposal of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA) , the Federal Council decided in principle to "take various measures if necessary (allocation, Sunday driving ban, rationing)". In consultation with Carbura (Swiss Central Office for the Import of Liquid Fuels and Fuels), to which all importers belonged, it was agreed that only ten percent of their stocks could be handed over. In addition, consumers were asked to use fuel sparingly. The question raised by the press about gasoline rationing was answered in the negative at that time. Government decrees from other countries such as France, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden prompted the management of the economic department six weeks later to also issue restrictive measures themselves. The task of Carbura was seen as increasingly difficult to continue to supply wholesalers, garages and consumers in a fair and smooth manner.

Of the three restrictions mentioned, only the Sunday driving ban came into consideration for the economic department. This coercive measure was also considered justifiable by Carbura and the automobile organizations. The auto trade association, which in turn pursued diverging interests, saw this project as ambiguous, but did not want to reject it. Tourism could not approve of this measure either. Nevertheless, the economic politicians stated that “we do not fail to recognize that the interests of individual branches of the economy […] will be adversely affected by this measure, but the situation is favorable insofar as tourism will not be so important in the coming weeks. As far as the handling of the prohibition or a possible mitigation or lifting of the same for the Christmas and New Years days is concerned, this must be checked at a later point in time. "

In the aforementioned War Provisioning Act , which was only a year old, it was precisely determined how the Sunday driving ban was to be handled. It generally prohibited the use of motor vehicles on Sundays and public holidays; however, a number of exceptions have been made. To control these exceptions was a special Control Label provided for the vehicles, but was not implemented for lack of time by pointing out "that the parties concerned themselves readily determine whether the exceptions apply to them or not." It relied on experiences made in a similar situation during World War II. Control was the responsibility of the cantons.

Restrictions on heating oil were not planned and were not implemented later. Motorboats and sport aircraft were also not affected.

Implementation and evaluation

Car-free Sunday southwest of Zurich

On the Monday after the first Sunday of the driving ban, the Federal Office for Industry, Commerce and Labor (BIGA) reported to its director, Thomas Holenstein , that the measure had been well accepted and followed by the population with a few exceptions. A large number of requests for information and exceptional requests were received on Saturday, and they worked on them - even over lunchtime - until nine or ten o'clock in the evening. After that, private calls about the matter were received by the employees at home: “Later information was given on the private lines of individual employees. We attached great importance to a calm, polite and very careful handling of all inquiries and believe that we can state that the audience in general showed great understanding. "

The note also says that the cantons had shown a certain tolerance due to the tight deadline between the announcement and the date of the ban, but that they had ensured uniform and effective control. They were very reassured that the public had shown understanding and was ready to accept certain inconveniences. However, criticism came for the fact that the Sunday driving ban did not apply to foreign drivers. These had come across the border in large numbers , especially in the Jura and Ticino , and “only came in for the purpose of purchasing fuel. Unfortunately, the petrol station owners have given in very large quantities in an incomprehensible way, and the wholesalers apparently arranged for subsequent purchases, which is even less understandable. " The cantons of Geneva and Graubünden responded in an exemplary manner and prohibited the sale of gasoline to foreign vehicles. In addition, suggestions were made as to how the transport of fuel, which already requires a permit, could be prevented in future by foreigners.

On Monday, December 10, 1956, the day after the last Sunday driving ban, the Federal Office for Industry, Commerce and Labor submitted an application to the Federal Council to replace the Sunday driving ban with wholesale quotas. It stated that, given the still tense supply situation, an average of 80 percent savings would have to be achieved in order to be able to satisfy the overall demand. However, these savings could not be achieved by car drivers alone and this during Christmas and the main holiday season that follows. An increased travel activity is to be expected, which is of great importance for the tourism and catering industry.

In this application it was stated that the fears about the development of oil imports, shown a month earlier, had not been confirmed. The political situation in the Middle East has also «cleared up to some extent. It can be assumed that Europe as a whole will receive around 70 to 75% of the quantities required during the current supply crisis from the relevant supply countries. However, this number is not relevant for our country. The importers immediately endeavored to procure additional imports outside the normal delivery programs, especially from America. So far, through joint purchases by «Carbura», around 65,000 tons of gasoline and around 70,000 tons of gas oil have been purchased, for which six tankers are secured. According to the information from "Carbura", these goods should arrive in Switzerland by mid-December or at the latest by the end of December. " For the high number of 6,500 petrol stations and 750,000 motor vehicles, an even supply is not guaranteed without official measures.

These measures provided for the burden of the 80% quotas recommended by the OECD , which was incumbent on the importers also responsible for distribution, to be determined by officially determined quantities. Otherwise one saw “the danger of the gas stations being emptied prematurely”. With sufficient information about the delivery quantities, the filling stations could determine their requirements in good time and distribute these "reduced quantities evenly to their customers". The sharper sword of rationing is reserved if the quota associated with an austerity appeal does not take effect sufficiently.

Sources and literature

Federal Council resolution of November 16, 1956 regarding Sunday driving bans and other saving measures in the consumption of liquid fuels , in: Official Collection of Federal Law, AS 1956 1273. Sources (text not yet available online.)
Files in the Swiss Federal Archives on the Sunday driving ban in 1956
Daniele Ganser : Europa im Erdölrausch, The consequences of a dangerous dependency , Orell Füssli publishing house, Zurich 2013. Relevant passage in Google Books