Launching a food supplement brand from Geneva needs no product authorisation and no product registration: the canton says so in plain terms. What does need to be ready is the organisation, from the first day of activity: the notification to the Consumer Affairs and Veterinary Service (SCAV), a responsible person with a business address in Switzerland, and a self-supervision file that the SCAV will read during its inspections.
RISTER® sets out those Geneva steps, what changes for a brand entering Switzerland through Geneva from France, the United Kingdom or the United States, and the customs and VAT rules specific to these products, which are not the rules of an industrial good.
Contents
- Supplement or medicine: a classification to document
- The SCAV notification and the responsible person
- Self-supervision: the file the SCAV comes to check
- Permitted ingredients, minimum quantities, prohibited substances
- Labels and health claims
- A foreign brand entering through Geneva, a Geneva brand exporting
- Customs, VAT and Swiss made for a supplement
- Mistakes we see on these files
Supplement or medicine: a classification to document
Before setting up a supplement company in Geneva, make sure the product really is one. The definition is federal: a foodstuff intended to supplement a normal diet, a concentrated source of vitamins, minerals or other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, sold in dose form (Art. 1 of the FDHA Ordinance on Food Supplements, FoodSO). Geneva warns about confusion with ordinary foods, fortified drinks, sports nutrition, food for special medical purposes, medicinal products and even chemical products.
The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) frames it with one sentence: “Food supplements are foodstuffs, not therapeutic products.” It adds that they must not have a pharmacological effect or be advertised as preventing, treating or curing disease, and that correct classification requires an overall assessment of composition, dosage, purpose, labelling, presentation and advertising. The classification decision, and the evidence behind it, belong in the company’s own file. If the product is in fact a medicine, our guide to setting up a pharmaceutical company in Geneva covers the Swissmedic route.
The SCAV notification and the responsible person
Geneva states that placing food supplements on the Swiss market requires no authorisation and no specific registration with the authorities, while stressing that every legal requirement for these products must be met in full. Two of those requirements come before the first sale.
- Designate a responsible person: the canton requires that the person responsible for food safety be designated and known from the first day of activity and have a business address in Switzerland (Art. 73 of the Foodstuffs and Utility Articles Ordinance, FUAO). This is the individual who answers to the authority for product safety.
- Notify the activity: anyone handling foodstuffs must report the activity to the competent cantonal authority (Art. 20 FUAO). In Geneva, the responsible person completes, dates and signs the notification form and returns it by post or e-mail to the SCAV, on day one, then again on any change of responsible person and when the activity stops.
One practical detail matters for your records: the canton states that the SCAV does not issue any acknowledgement of receipt. Keep proof of sending, because nothing will come back to confirm the filing.
| Obligation | When | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| Responsible person with a Swiss business address | From the first day of activity | Designated internally, named on the notification |
| Notification of the activity | From the first day, then on any change or cessation | SCAV, cantonal enforcement authority |
| Self-supervision file | Established and applied from the first day | Checked by the SCAV during inspections |
| Compliance evidence per ingredient | Before the first order to the manufacturer | Kept available to the authority at all times |
Self-supervision: the file the SCAV comes to check
Self-supervision is a federal duty. Anyone who manufactures, stores, places on the market, imports or exports foodstuffs must ensure that statutory requirements are met and “is obliged to ensure self-supervision”; official inspection does not release the business from it (Art. 26 of the Foodstuffs Act). The ordinance sets the content: good practice, HACCP or its principles, sampling and analysis, traceability, withdrawal and recall, and documentation (Art. 75 FUAO).
Geneva is unusually concrete about it. The file must be established, implemented and applied from the first day of activity, on paper or electronically, kept up to date, available at all times and known to the staff concerned. The canton also expects evidence for each ingredient and each finished product, such as certificates, studies, assessment reports and classification decisions, to be kept in the file and available for inspection at any time.
Important
The self-supervision file stays with the company that places the product on the market, not with the contract manufacturer. A Geneva brand that leaves its ingredient assessments with a producer in France or Italy has nothing to show the SCAV. Ask your manufacturer for the underlying documents, and keep your own copy from the first production run.
Permitted ingredients, minimum quantities, prohibited substances
Composition is governed by the FoodSO: vitamins, minerals and other substances listed in its Annex 1, within the maximum levels per recommended daily dose (Art. 2 para. 5), live bacterial cultures under the conditions of Annex 3, and authorised novel foods. Geneva adds the minimum quantities that apply as soon as an ingredient is highlighted on the label, the packaging or in advertising.
| Ingredient | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Vitamins and minerals | 15% of the reference intake |
| Other substances | 15% of the maximum dose |
| Live bacteria | 10⁸ colony-forming units |
| Lactase | 4,500 FCC units |
- Prohibited substances: those presenting a toxicological risk, those with a pharmacological effect according to Swissmedic criteria, and unauthorised novel foods. Geneva cites melatonin, red yeast rice and medicinal plant extracts among the examples, as well as DNP, DMAA, 5-HTP and DHEA.
- Plant extracts: the canton takes the position that plant or food extracts are considered novel foods and therefore require an FSVO authorisation. For a formula built on botanicals, that position decides the timetable.
- Novel food procedure: the FSVO first rules on the novel food status, then assesses safety on a technical dossier, each step subject to a fee. Authorisations cover substances or primary products, not composite finished products.
Supplement brand in Geneva
A Geneva company that can answer the SCAV
Incorporation and corporate purpose, organisation of the responsible person role, VAT at the reduced rate and on imports, stock and batch records, tax representation for a foreign brand shipping to Swiss customers: RISTER® structures your business in Geneva, alongside your food law advisers.
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RISTER – Fiduciary in Geneva, reply within one business day.
Labels and health claims
The specific designation is “food supplement” in the language used (Art. 3 FoodSO), and mandatory particulars must appear in at least one Swiss official language (Art. 36 FUAO), which for a UK or US pack means a new label. Supplements carry additional statements: the recommended daily dose in portions, a warning not to exceed it, a reminder that the product does not replace a varied diet, a keep out of reach of children statement and the warnings listed in Annex 1. Labelling, presentation and advertising may not suggest that a balanced and varied diet is not enough (Art. 4 FoodSO), and Geneva confirms that this applies to advertising as well.
- Positive list: health claims are allowed only if they appear in Annex 14 of the Food Information Ordinance and their conditions are met; any other health claim needs an FSVO authorisation based on a scientific dossier.
- General wellbeing: Geneva notes that a general reference to a nutrient being good for health or wellbeing is allowed only when it accompanies a specific, authorised health claim, and that Swiss food law provides no special treatment for the claims left on hold in the European Union.
- Weight loss: according to the FSVO, health claims may not refer to a rate or amount of weight loss, which rules out before and after photos.
- Brand name: a trademark or fancy name that reads as a nutrition or health claim is allowed only alongside a compliant claim (Art. 35 of the Food Information Ordinance).
A foreign brand entering through Geneva, a Geneva brand exporting
Geneva is often the entry point for French and other European brands. The canton sums up the rule: requirements for food supplements are not harmonised in the EU, products coming from the EU are not automatically marketable in Switzerland, and it is up to the Swiss importer or distributor to verify that what they import meets Swiss requirements. Supplements are not registered with the Swiss authorities, unlike in most EU member states, so a notification filed in Paris or Madrid has no effect here.
- Online sales: the whole of food law applies to products sold online, and Geneva points out that a shop based in Switzerland can be inspected at any time, without prior notice. Products labelled as supplements abroad do not necessarily meet Swiss requirements.
- Distance selling information: when pre-packaged foods are offered remotely, all mandatory particulars except the durability date and batch must be available when the product is offered, and all of them on delivery (Art. 44 FUAO).
- Exports: products compliant with Swiss law can be exported, otherwise the destination country’s rules apply, and the canton states that dangerous or unhealthy foodstuffs may never be exported from Switzerland. A Swiss establishment exporting non-compliant goods reports their type and quantity to the cantonal authority (Art. 88 FUAO).
- VAT of the foreign seller: a brand based abroad that ships directly to Swiss customers may become liable for Swiss VAT and then works through a fiscal representative for VAT in Switzerland.
Customs, VAT and Swiss made for a supplement
Because it is a foodstuff, a supplement follows different rules from machinery or spare parts on three points that hit a Geneva company’s margin.
- Customs: the abolition of customs duties on 1 January 2024 covers industrial products; the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs specifies that it does not apply to agricultural products in chapters 1 to 24 of the Harmonised System. Supplements are often classified as food preparations in chapter 21, so duties may remain and the tariff number must be checked before pricing, as our guide to importing into Switzerland explains.
- VAT: foodstuffs under the Foodstuffs Act fall under the reduced rate of 2.6% (Art. 25 para. 2 VAT Act), and the same rate applies at customs clearance under Art. 55 para. 2 VAT Act. Our complete guide to VAT in Switzerland covers registration and input tax recovery.
- Swiss made: for a foodstuff, origin is the place from which at least 80% of the raw material weight comes, and the indication must match the place of the processing that gave the product its essential characteristics (Art. 48b of the Trade Mark Protection Act). We detail the use of the Swiss cross in our article on the Swiss made label.
RISTER advice
Prepare the self-supervision file before the first order to your contract manufacturer, and make the notification to the SCAV on the day the activity starts, with proof of sending. In the shareholders’ or supplier agreements, say who holds the ingredient documentation, who pays for the analyses and who bears the cost of a recall, because in Geneva it is the company that placed the product on the market that will be asked for all three.
Mistakes we see on these files
- Assuming an EU-compliant range is Swiss-compliant, without checking maximum levels, substances and claims.
- Selling before notifying the SCAV and designating the responsible person, both required from day one.
- Leaving the self-supervision file with the manufacturer, when it is the Geneva company that must produce it.
- Formulating with plant extracts without settling the novel food question the canton raises.
- Pricing like an industrial product: zero duty, 8.1% VAT and a 60% Swiss made rule, none of which apply to a foodstuff.
FAQ: setting up a supplement company in Geneva
Where does a supplement business notify its activity in Geneva?
To the Consumer Affairs and Veterinary Service (SCAV), the competent cantonal authority. The responsible person for food safety completes, dates and signs the notification form and sends it by post or e-mail, from the first day of activity, then on any change of responsible person and when the activity ceases.
Does the SCAV confirm receipt of the notification?
No. The canton states that no acknowledgement of receipt is issued, so keep your own proof of sending with the self-supervision file.
Can a French or UK brand sell supplements in Switzerland without a Swiss entity?
Every food business that imports or distributes in Switzerland must have a responsible person with a business address in Switzerland, and a foreign seller shipping to Swiss customers may also need Swiss VAT registration with a fiscal representative. A Geneva company, or a Swiss importer taking the role, covers both.
Are plant extracts allowed in a supplement?
Geneva takes the position that plant or food extracts count as novel foods and therefore require an FSVO authorisation. The status of each extract should be settled, and documented in self-supervision, before the formula is fixed.
Do supplements have to be registered in Switzerland?
No. Unlike most EU member states, Switzerland does not register food supplements. The company reports its activity to the canton; the products themselves are not filed.
What VAT applies to supplements imported into Geneva?
The reduced rate of 2.6%, on domestic sales and on imports, because supplements are foodstuffs. Customs duties may still be due depending on the tariff heading, since the 2024 abolition of duties does not cover agricultural products.
Sources
- Canton of Geneva, Manufacturing, importing or selling food supplements (in French)
- Canton of Geneva, Basic requirements in the food sector (in French)
- Canton of Geneva, Permitted and prohibited ingredients (in French)
- Canton of Geneva, Import and export of food supplements (in French)
- Canton of Geneva, Online sales of food supplements (in French)
- FDHA Ordinance on Food Supplements (FoodSO, SR 817.022.14), Art. 1 to 4 (in French)
- Foodstuffs and Utility Articles Ordinance (SR 817.02), Art. 20, 36, 44, 73 to 75 and 88 (in French)
- FDHA Food Information Ordinance (SR 817.022.16), Art. 31, 34 and 35 (in French)
- Foodstuffs Act (FSA, SR 817.0), Art. 26
- Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, Food supplements
- Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, Nutrition and health claims
- Federal Act on Value Added Tax (VAT Act, SR 641.20), Art. 25 and 55
- Trade Mark Protection Act (SR 232.11), Art. 48b
- State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Abolition of industrial tariffs (in French)
Conclusion
Setting up a supplement company in Geneva needs no authorisation and no product registration, but an organisation in place from day one: a notification to the SCAV signed by the responsible person, a business address in Switzerland, a self-supervision file with an assessment for every ingredient, and labels and claims that follow Swiss law. For a foreign brand, Geneva is not just a delivery address: EU products are not automatically compliant, and the Geneva company carries that verification, in the customs and VAT framework of a foodstuff.
RISTER – Fiduciary in Geneva incorporates the company behind your brand through our company incorporation service, then handles accounting, payroll and tax administration, including batch records and import VAT. To discuss your project, contact us.
