Billag: Back payments from defaulting companies not a priority
Companies that do not pay TV and radio reception fees even though they use television and radio do not have to expect harsh persecution by Billag. The collection agency's priority is to persuade companies to pay in future.
As the Federal Council writes in an answer to a question from Christoph von Rotz (SVP/OW) published on Tuesday, the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) instructed Billag to concentrate on providing information and registering companies liable to pay fees and not to collect fees from previous years. From a purely legal point of view, Billag could claim unpaid fees from the five years prior to the discovery of unpaid radio and TV usage. The limitation period for reception fees is five years. At present, the proportion of registered establishments is too low in relation to the actual number of reception devices. According to the Federal Council, one of the reasons for this is that companies are poorly informed about the obligation to pay fees.
