Today in Brussels the Swiss and EU delegations continued to negotiate the issue of how the Agreement could be adjusted to future legal developments in this area amongst other things. Both delegations were able to agree on a solution whereby guarantees concerning the autonomy of both parties are retained. Now it is a question of obtaining the approval of the superior bodies for the agreement reached. The results of the negotiations will be released to the media at the appropriate time.

The jointly negotiated text of the treaty makes provision for there to be no prior notification requirement in the transfer of goods between Switzerland and the EU even after the introduction of the new EU security regulations. This has been made possible due to the contracting parties recognising the equivalence of their security standards.

In contrast, however, goods traffic between Switzerland and non-EU states will be subject to the new security regulations. This means that for consignments in direct import and export traffic with non-EU states, Switzerland will require prior notification of security data and, based on this, will carry out a risk analysis. This applies especially to consignments by land out of Switzerland to non-EU states. For consignments by land from non-EU states to Switzerland, again the security data will be required at the first EU point of entry and the risk analysis will be carried out there.

Goods traffic with third countries which will now be subject to application of the EU security requirements by Switzerland, represents approximately 20% (imports) and approximately 40% (exports) of overall Swiss foreign trade.

Publisher:

Federal Department of Finance

Internet: http://www.efd.admin.ch