According to a survey by the Swiss National French Broadcasting Corporation, the cost of sanitary napkins per woman in the country from the age of 12 to 50 is about 2300 Swiss francs. If all commodities related to physiological period are included, the total cost is up to 4500 Swiss francs. The report believes that there is a lot of room for reduction and exemption of this expenditure, because Swiss women’s sanitary products are not “necessary goods” that can enjoy preferential tax rates, so their value-added tax rate is much higher.

As early as 2016, Swiss parliamentarians proposed relevant bills, but they were not passed at that time, because according to the calculation of the Swiss Federal Council, if the bill is passed, Switzerland will lose about 50 million Swiss francs in value-added tax revenue every year (about 340 million yuan). In 2018, the member submitted a motion for the second time, which was considered and passed by the national assembly of the Swiss Federal Parliament the following year, but so far no comments have been given. At present, the Swiss Parliament has debated the matter again, considering reducing the value-added tax on women’s sanitary products from 7.7% to 2.5%. Although the odds of winning this time are greater, the current process is still in the debate stage.