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Pro-billboard campaigners fail to collect enough valid signatures

Street advert in Zurich
A digital advertising screen in Zurich © Keystone / Christian Beutler

Organisers of a referendum against a law banning advertising billboards in Vernier, a municipality in Geneva, have failed to collect enough valid signatures. Street advertising therefore remains illegal there.

In October the co-chairman of the referendum committee said 2,300 signatures had been collected. A total of 1,921 valid signatures were required. But on Wednesday the Geneva cantonal government said only 1,633 of the 2,300 were valid.

In September the local administrative council decided to ban billboards and other forms of street advertising, arguing that this improved the quality of the landscape.

However, the referendum committee, made up of parties on the political right, believed it was a serious infringement of the freedom of trade. The banning of billboards in Vernier would seriously harm many local businesses by creating a situation of unfair competition, it claimed.

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