Registered Switzerland
Legally binding confirmation of receipt

Make sure you post your registered mail or Registered Prepaid as follows:

• The registered mail should be in a sealed envelope.
• Registered letters must always bear a sender note. Private customers must affix the sender address legibly to the letter. For business customers with a billing relationship, the sender address can be read from the individual barcode label, and must therefore be printed or affixed to the letter in this format.
• Business customers with a billing relationship who wish to post their registered mail ready to send must do so at a business customer counter, at a branch or during a collection. The mail is posted together with the barcode lists and delivery notes.

Registered mail must contain the following elements:

• Barcode: You can ask Swiss Post staff at the branch to affix the barcode, or order labels with the barcode from the Postshop. These labels are called Registered Prepaid.
• Sender address: This must be legible on the consignment. 

Otherwise, the regular design requirements for letters apply.

Are you a business customer with a billing relationship? The customer number can be read from the individual barcode or the PP impression. If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Swiss Post Contact Center.

Do you want to send goods such as keys or USB sticks as letters? Always choose secure packaging such as bubble wrap or cardboard envelopes.

Affix the corresponding barcodes to registered mail. Information on this can be found under Resources for consignments with barcode.

If, as a business customer, you want to send registered consignments on a regular basis, please note the following points: 

• Franked consignments (e.g. with intelligent franking systems, WebStamps): – Provide consignments with a barcode: fill in barcode list 21 (form no. 210.17) or 23 (form no. 210.16) 
• Letter mail easy: provide consignments with a barcode with the Letter mail easy franking licence number and PP impression. It is also necessary to fill in barcode list 21 (form no. 210.17) or 23 (form no. 210.16)

DataTransfer

You can use our DataTransfer service if you would like to transfer the consignment and billing data electronically and obtain the track and trace data as a data file.

Swiss Post is liable for up to CHF 500.00 if it loses, damages or fails to deliver the item correctly. If the consignment is delivered late, Swiss Post is solely liable for transport costs.

You can find more detailed information in the GTC for Postal Service:

• GTC “Postal Services for Private Customers” (PDF, 90.7 KB)
• GTC “Postal Services for Business Customers” (PDF, 106.6 KB)

Special characteristics

Swiss Post Ltd only accepts liability for Registered Prepaid if the consignment is visible in its electronic track & trace system, or if you can provide evidence of posting. You will receive this documentation if you post the registered mail at the counter or at a My Post 24 terminal.

No liability is accepted for cash and B securities.

For business customers with a billing relationship, content limits apply when sending valuables by registered mail. If the limits are exceeded, Swiss Post shall accept no liability.

With the “Track consignments” online service, you can track the progress of your registered letters along the entire route.

Delivery on the next working day (Monday to Friday; no delivery on Saturday). The day of delivery may vary due to general and regional public holidays.

Registered mail can be posted on any working day until the acceptance cut-off time. Acceptance cut-off times may vary between acceptance points. You can find our acceptance points, in addition to their acceptance cut-off times and collection times, in the location search.

You can also post registered mail at My Post 24 terminals or any letter box with Registered Prepaid. In both instances, the last collection time applies. You can find this information on the My Post 24 terminals or on the letter box.

Useful to know: if you post a registered letter too late, the next day is considered to be the day of posting.

Value-added services for the recipient – second attempted delivery

If the recipient of a registered letter is absent, they can request a second delivery attempt from Swiss Post. If the second attempted delivery is unsuccessful, we will notify the recipient again and keep the consignment available for collection for a further seven days.

If the registered letter cannot be collected or accepted, Swiss Post will return the consignment by registered mail. This will cost the sender CHF 5.80 and take up to two working days.

For business customers – “Return as unregistered”: You do not want the return to be sent as registered mail and without liability? In combination with the data matrix code, you can affix the note “Return as unregistered” to the consignment. The consignment will then be returned within 7 working days as a “taxable return”. This will cost the sender CHF 0.60. There is no consignment tracking.

Please note that the “Return as unregistered” option is available only if you meet the following requirements:

• An existing billing relationship
• Your own consignment barcode
• Data matrix code
• “Return as unregistered” instruction

If the above requirements are not met, the item will also be processed as registered mail for the return journey (price for taxable returns: 5.80 francs).

More information