Switzerland: 5G Before the Judges

5G before the judges
by Aline Andrey, Evénement, 27 Apr 2022 - translation

The Federal Court will decide on two pioneering appeals against the implementation of 5G in Switzerland. Explanations 

© Thierry Porchet

Two antennas in the canton of Fribourg are the subject of appeals to the Federal Court (TF) filed by Stop5G Glâne and individuals with their lawyer Raphaël Mahaim, who is also a Green National Councillor. A pioneering approach, because in other cantons, such as Vaud and Geneva, the moratoria decreed in 2019, have slowed down the procedures (they have since been lifted). Two or three procedures before the TF have also been launched from the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The High Court is expected to issue its judgements in a few months and this will have a significant impact in all cantons on the implementation of 5G antennas.
For the time being, the 3000 or so oppositions filed by citizens are following their course, except in a few cantons such as Fribourg and Berne, which have decided to wait for the decision of the Federal Court. "In some places, permits are issued; in others, when there is resistance in the municipalities, there is a refusal. In these cases, it is then the operators who appeal. I am following several cases that will soon be before the Cantonal Court, certainly, also arriving at the TF", explains Raphael Mahaim.

Democratic denial

The arguments put forward by the lawyer are based on two points. The first is related to the specificity of each project, independent of 5G, with regard to the protection of heritage, landscape, forest, land use. The second raises several important issues. First, the democratic denial of the introduction of 5G. "The constitutional guarantee of the legal basis has not been respected. The people did not have the opportunity to file a referendum, because there was no law. The operators have used the loopholes in the ordinances. But we will see what the TF says", emphasizes Raphael Mahaim, for whom the filing of an initiative would be, in principle, desirable, but risks taking too much time until its acceptance. Then "in view of this unprecedented deployment - between 20,000 and 25,000 antennas, in every village, near schools, behind every church tower - linked to the commercial war of the operators, a plan would be necessary". This point is questioned by the report of the Federal Council of April 13, which contradicts the initial forecasts of the Confederation itself.

 
And finally, there is the big question of the precautionary principle. "The operators knew that the limit values had to be increased. And with this trick of correction factors that allows the values to be changed without changing them (by accepting peaks over a given time), and with the proliferation of antennas, our health - electro-sensitive people already testify to this - is affected. The consequences of the addition of radiation have not yet been sufficiently studied. However, research has shown that this radiation has non-thermal effects on the cells of living beings." In addition, the lawyer takes issue with the shortcomings of the antenna emission monitoring. "A whole series of tests have shown that the limit values are regularly exceeded, also in sensitive areas like schools. This is shocking!"

Far fewer antennas than expected

A report of the Federal Council, entitled "For a cell phone network respectful of sustainable development", estimates that there will be four times less 5G antennas than expected. That is 7500 instead of 26500 "thanks to recent changes in the legal basis". "The costs are significantly reduced: 3.2 billion francs instead of 7.7 billion". Following this announcement published on April 13, Chantal Blanc, spearhead of the Fribourg association Stop5G Glâne, sees this reduction in a positive light, but wonders about this reversal. "Is it a strategy on the part of the operators to allow the correction factors to be applied, which momentarily allow up to ten times more than expected to be emitted? In addition, the way to apply these correction factors to the antennas contravenes the jurisprudence of the Federal Court and the opinion of the authorities dealing with protection against non-ionizing radiation, Cercl'Air." While she regrets that the number of additional antennas already built or to be built will expose the population to their radiation, she is pleased that the report provides for health monitoring. "This is an excellent thing! Especially since it is the Institute of Family Medicine in Freiburg that is setting up this monitoring based on a report prepared by Doctors for the Environment. It remains that monitoring accompanies this sanitary follow-up. Unfortunately, we expect this to be a little too reassuring, since the exposure averages will be given and the peaks causing non-thermal effects on health will be erased. It is moreover very telling that the measurement of the radiation to which students will be exposed in the new digital classrooms is not planned." And Chantal Blanc dreams: "If only the deployment of public protection measures were as fast as the deployment of new technologies that are mainly used for entertainment..."

Original article in French:
https://www.evenement.ch/articles/la-5g-devant-les-juges