Address requirements Swiss Post (Switzerland)

Letters sent to Switzerland, once printed, are forwarded to Swiss Post for delivery. From this point onwards, further responsibility lies with Swiss Post. To ensure that your letters can be processed smoothly and for the agreed prices by Swiss Post, it is important that the recipient addresses comply with specific requirements.

In this article, we have summarised the most important address requirements of Swiss Post for you.

To provide our customers with the best possible support in complying with these requirements, Pingen checks the recipient address for additional requirements for letters to Switzerland since July 1st 2024. Learn more

If there are problems processing the recipient's address, Swiss Post may reject the letter or only deliver it for a surcharge. In such cases, no reimbursement will be made as the correct addressing is the sender’s responsibility and the costs cover the additional processing effort. To ensure that the address meets the postal address requirements, we recommend sending a test letter via Pingen and verifying successful delivery. In this way, potential problems can be recognised and rectified at an early stage to ensure smooth delivery.

Address requirements Swiss Post:

Address positioning

To make the recipient's address clearly legible in the envelope window, the address must be placed within the address area. The following dimensions must be observed:

• Distance from the edge: 22 mm from the left (x), 60 mm from the top (y)
• Address area size: 85.5 mm x 25.5 mm

Address structure

To ensure that the recipient's address can be processed by Swiss Post, the following order must be respected:

• Salutation (optional)
• Recipient or company name
• Further recipient designations (optional)
• Street and house number or PO box and PO box number on one line stated in this order.
• 4-digit postcode and city in one line in this order, without a comma separation between postcode and city. Additional information about the destination country (country code or ISO code) must be omitted.

Usually accepted by Swiss Post:

Usually not accepted by Swiss Post:

Fonts

Swiss Post defines specific information regarding font formatting:

Font size (height of verse)

• ‍Minimum: 3.0 mm (9pt font)
• Maximum: 9.8 mm (28 pt font)
• Recommended font size:
• 10 pt to 12 pt in "regular" (normal) font style

Line spacing (weft)

‍Uniform line spacing between the descenders of the top line and the ascenders of the bottom line for the entire address:

• Minimum: 1 mm
• Maximum: 1,5 mm

Font & colour

‍For the recipient's address to be properly read, a clear font with an easily readable font size is mandatory.

• Recommended fonts: Arial, Frutiger, Helvetica, Times or Univers
• Uniform font
• Font colour: Black
• No italics or decorative fonts
• No serif fonts
• No negative or bold fonts
• No fonts with connected letters
• No 3D or shaded fonts

Usually not accepted by Swiss Post:

Further details on the design:

Swiss Post specifies further requirements for address design:

• At least three, maximum six address lines
• No blank lines between the address lines
• Neither postcode nor city must be underlined or blocked out.
• Keep 5 mm clear outside the address area

Usually not accepted by Swiss Post:

Detailed documentation of the requirements by Swiss Post can be found here.

Address verification by Pingen (since July 1st 2024)

To help you meet the requirements of Swiss Post, Pingen checks the recipient address for compliance with additional requirements since July 1st 2024 for letters to Switzerland.

If Pingen detects that a document does not comply with the address requirements, it will receive the status "Action required" after upload. The "cover page feature" enables you to correct the recipient's address directly via Pingen. This feature automatically adds a new page in front of the document. This allows the address to be re-entered in compliance with the address requirements and placed on the cover page accordingly.

The following requirements are checked by Pingen since July 1st 2024:

Prohibited content in the postcode line

In the address line with the postcode and the city, the postcode must appear before the city. In addition, there must be no characters (such as a comma or hyphen) between the postcode and the city. Both pieces of information must be separated by a space. Pingen checks whether the order is correct and whether there is a space after the postcode.

In addition, country designations before the postcode such as CH- or CH should be avoided, as these are no longer accepted by the Post.

Please ensure that the line with the postcode only contains the postcode and the city and that they are separated by a space. For example, 3000 Bern (and not “3000, Bern” or “CH-3000 Bern” or “CH3000 Bern” or “Bern 3000”).

Postcode does not have 4 digits

In Switzerland, postcodes that are not 4-digit are considered invalid. If a recipient address has a postcode with fewer or more than 4 digits, it will be rejected by Pingen. Pingen checks whether the last or second-last address line contains a 4-digit postcode.

Please ensure that the zip code is a continuous 4-digit number. For example, 3000 Bern (and not "300 Bern" or "3 000 Bern").

Unsupported ISO country code

The spelling CH-3000 Bern (i.e. ISO2 country code before the postcode) is no longer supported by the Swiss Post for several years. For this reason, Pingen checks whether there is an ISO2 country code (such as “CH-“) on the line with the postcode.

Please ensure that the country name is stated on the last address line and that the address line with the postcode does not have a country designation. For example, 3000 Bern (and not “CH-3000 Bern”).

Country designation on the postcode line

Swiss Post requires that the country name is the only content on the final address line. For this reason, Pingen checks whether there is a country designation (such as "Switzerland," "Schweiz" or "Suisse,")on the line with the postal code.

Please ensure that the country name is on the last address line and that the address line with the postcode does not have a country name. For example, 3000 Bern (and not “3000 Bern Switzerland“ or “3000 Bern, Switzerland” or “1000 Wien, Austria”).

Country designation on the last address line

Swiss Post specifies that for local letters to Switzerland, the country should not be stated in the address. Pingen checks, whether Switzerland is stated as the destination country for local letters.

For Organisations with the default recipient country Switzerland, please ensure that there is no country name (such as Switzerland, Schweiz or Suisse) on the last address line.

Invalid address structure (soon)

When sending letters to Switzerland, it is mandatory to include a recipient name in the address. Furthermore, no empty lines (or lines without content) are allowed between the different address lines. In addition, the address line with the street name/house number or P.O. Box must be followed by the address line with the postcode/city. In addition, neither the address line with the street name/house number nor the address line with the postcode/city may be split over multiple address lines.

Please ensure that the address contains a recipient and no blank lines between the address lines, that the address line with the street name or P.O. box is followed by the address line with the postcode/city and that both the address line with the street name and the address line with the postcode/city are shortened so that they each fit on one address line.

Important:

For technical reasons, Pingen cannot carry out a complete verification of the requirements by Swiss Post. The address check by Pingen serves solely to help identify various problems before sending the letter. However, it is the sender's responsibility to ensure that letters sent to Switzerland via Pingen comply with Swiss Post regulations. Any additional expenses due to incorrect addressing will be charged by Pingen.