Tagblatt remains official gazette
The Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich has been reawarded the concession as the city's official gazette from 2018. Only one bid was submitted.
The City of Zurich terminated the contract with the previous provider of the printed official gazette, Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich AG, at the end of 2017 for reasons relating to submission law and put out to tender in August 2016.
Even though as of January 1, 2018, official notices will be published on the City of Zurich's website in a legally binding manner, the City Council is of the opinion that a printed version of the Official Gazette should be distributed free of charge to households and tradespeople in the City of Zurich for at least another five years. The printed product should have a balanced and factual editorial section in addition to the official section.
One bid was submitted in response to the invitation to tender. The existing bidder, Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich AG, with its Offer all the specified criteria. The official notices can be published at the previous, reduced price. In addition, the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich AG:
- discounted advertising rates for advertisements of municipal authorities and service departments in the official section;
- a "Forum of the Parties" for the parties represented in the City Council, as well as the "Personal" column for the members of the City Council; and
- an annual compensation for the title right "municipal gazette". The compensation is determined depending on the annual number of advertising pages, i.e. the number of pages of advertisements and official notices: For every 100 pages of advertisements, compensation of around 65,000 francs is paid. With 1300 to 1399 pages (2015: 1319), a compensation of 850,000 francs would be paid. Previously, a compensation of one million francs per year was agreed in the official gazette contract for up to 3,500 advertising pages.
For the printing of the official notices, annual bound expenses of 500,000 to a maximum of 700,000 Swiss francs are assumed. These expenses can probably be compensated by the compensation offered.
Lucia M. Eppmann, Editor-in-Chief of the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich, is delighted: "The Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich has been published as the official municipal gazette for over 150 years and is well positioned in the city of Zürich with more than 100,000 readers. We are very pleased to continue this tradition with the renewed concession award and to continue to supply Zurich households with weekly information and news about Züri from 2018." (pd/hae)
