WT/REG351/M/1  
 
 
22 October 2015  
(15-5581)  Page: 1/5  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Seventy-eighth Session   
 
 FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN SWITZERLAND AND CHINA,  
GOODS AND SERVICES 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 25 SEPTEMBER 2015 
Chairman: Ambassador Amr RAMADAN (Egypt) 
1.1.  The 78th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/3 dated 12 August 2015. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item B.III of the session, the CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement 
between Switzerland and China, (hereinafter "the Agreement"). 
1.3.  The Chairman said that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 July 2014. It had been 
notified to the WTO by the Parties on 30 June 2014 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 and 
the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement 
establishing a free trade area (document WT/REG351/N/1) and under GATS Article V:7(a) as an 
Agreement providing for the liberalization of trade in  services within the meaning of Article V of the 
GATS (document S/C/N/742). The text of the Agreement was available, together with its Annexes, 
on the Parties' official websites. The Factual Presentation on the goods and services aspects 
(document WT/REG351/1 dated 18 June 2015) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own responsibility in full consultation with the Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the Transparency Mechanism for Regional Trade Ag reements (document WT/L/671). In addition, 
written questions and replies on the Agreement had been distributed in document WT/REG351/2 
dated 16 September 2015. He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first asking the Parties and then other Members to give any general comments and then turn to the 
specifics of the Agreement. 
1.4.  The Representative of Switzerland thanke d the Chairman for his introductory remarks, 
expressed best wishes for his chairmanship and offered his support. He also thanked the Chinese 
partners for their outstanding cooperation while preparing for the consideration of the Agreement 
and the WTO Secretariat for its excellent work in preparing the Factual Presentation and considerable support in the process. The document provided a comprehensive and informative overview of the Free Trade Agreement between Swit zerland and the People's Republic of China. 
1.5.  Switzerland considered bilateral or plurilat eral, regional or supra-regional agreements as 
complementary instruments to promote trade liberalization on an international scale. While Free Trade Agreements (FTA) would never be a satisfactory substitute for the multilateral trading 
system, given the increasing number of preferenti al agreements worldwide, FTAs had become an 
important instrument for maintaining and strengthening Switzerland's international competitiveness as a business location.  
1.6.  The Agreement was, in terms of trade, the most important free trade agreement concluded 
by Switzerland since the FTA signed with th e European Community, now the EU, in 1972. The 
Agreement represented a major addition to Switze rland's network of FTAs. The negotiations had 
been initiated in January 2011, the Agreement had been signed in July 2013 and had entered into 
force on 1 July 2014. Trade relations between Switzerland and China were important. China was 
the largest buyer of Swiss industrial products in Asia and the third largest worldwide, after the EU and the United States, with an annual two-way trade volume of more than 20 billion Swiss francs.  WT/REG351/M/1 
 
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  1.7.  The Agreement was a comprehensive agreement consisting of 16 chapters. A bilateral 
agreement on labour and employment cooperation as well as five side agreements in the areas of 
TBT and SPS had been signed in parallel. The Agreement contained substantive provisions on 
trade in goods, liberalizing trade in industrial products as well as a wide range of processed and 
basic agricultural products, on rules of origin, custom procedures and trade facilitation, trade 
remedies, technical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade in services, investment promotion, transparency in government procurement, environmental issues, economic 
and technical co-operation, institutional provisions like a Joint Committee, consultation process 
and dispute settlement. 
1.8.  Switzerland had abolished almost all remainin g tariffs on industrial products imported from 
China as of entry into force of the Agreement. Conversely, the vast majority of Switzerland's 
industrial exports to China would enjoy full or partial tariff dismantling, either from entry into force 
or with dismantling periods of 5, 10 and, in a few cases, 12 or 15 years. Switzerland and China 
had granted each other tariff concessions on a range of basic and processed agricultural products. 
A general review of the Agreement's provisions on trade in goods would take place in 2016. 
Regarding Customs procedures, the Agreement fore saw the use of an "Approved Exporter" scheme 
to speed up customs procedures and to prevent delays at the border.  
1.9.  The provisions on TBT and SPS in the Agre ement included various rules deepening those of 
the WTO, particularly with regard to basing nati onal regulations on standards and guidelines of 
recognized international standardization organizations. It also provided for an intensification of cooperation on TBT and SPS issues between the competent authorities, a key factor for 
pragmatically resolving the problems and concerns of companies. These provisions were 
complemented by additional agreements in the fields of telecommunications equipment, certification/accreditation, SPS and on mutual recognition of test results of measuring equipment 
and instruments. 
1.10.  The Agreement went beyond the GATS level of commitments in many areas, for example, in 
the field of private sector training services, financial services, air transport services and short-term 
contractual services provided by highly qualif ied natural persons. Compared to the GATS, the 
Agreement enhanced legal security by specifying more precisely several rules, in particular regarding transparency and licensing procedures. A re view clause provided for a biennial review of 
the lists of commitments for further liberalization of trade in services.  
1.11.  In the field of investment, the Agreement covered investment promotion and cooperation 
between the Parties, e.g. the exchange of information on investment opportunities. These provisions supplemented the existing bilateral agreement between Switzerland and China on the 
promotion and mutual protection of investment. Although the Agreement did not currently cover 
establishment in non-services sectors, a review clause foresaw regular examination of investment 
regulations and, at the request of a Party, negotiations would take place should a Party concluded 
an agreement with a third country which foresaw better treatment than the one granted to the 
other Party under the Agreement.  
1.12.  On the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), the Agreement contained a number 
of provisions under which Switzerland and China committed to apply a high level of international 
standards in accordance with the principles of MFN and national treatment. The Parties undertook 
to deepen their cooperation within the framework of the institutionalized bilateral dialogue on IPRs initiated in 2007. In various areas, the level of commitments taken under the Agreement went 
beyond the WTO TRIPS Agreement. This was in part icular the case in the area of copyright and 
rights applicable to performers of audiovisual performances and producers of videograms, patents 
and geographical indications. The Agreement also contained operational provisions to combat 
counterfeiting and piracy. Border measures were applicable in the event of infringement of 
trademarks and copyrights, as well as of patent s and protected designs. The Agreement foresaw 
civil and criminal proceedings for the prosecut ion of breaches of IPRs and for claiming 
compensation. The Agreement also contained prov isions aiming at the prevention of anti-
competitive behavior.  
1.13.  The Agreement addressed trade-related environmental issues. Switzerland and China 
reaffirmed the need to give effect to multilatera l environmental agreements they had ratified, and 
recognized that it was inappropriate to encourage trade or investment by weakening or reducing 
the protection afforded in domestic environmenta l laws and regulations. Moreover, the Agreement WT/REG351/M/1 
 
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  contained provisions on economic and technical cooperation. Possible areas of cooperation included 
sustainable development, in particular relating to environmental and labour issues, services, industry, agriculture, protection of intellectual property, quality control and government procurement. Regarding government procurement, the Agreement foresaw the start of 
negotiations on a bilateral agreement on government procurement once the current negotiations 
on China's accession to the GPA were completed. Finally, the Agreement included a mechanism for consultations and dispute settlement as well as the establishment of a Joint Committee overseeing 
its implementation and further development.  
1.14.  In closing, Switzerland thanked Thailand, Japan, Canada, the European Union and the 
United States for their questions submitted ah ead of the meeting and whose replies had been 
provided. He looked forward to a constructive  exchange of views and requested Members to 
submit any further questions concerning Switzerland in writing. 
1.15.  The representative of China thanked the Secretariat, his Swiss colleagues' collaboration in 
the process for preparing the factual presentation and Members interested in the Agreement who 
had presented questions. 
1.16.  Switzerland and China had launched  bilateral negotiation in 2011. They had concluded the 
Agreement in 2013, after 9 rounds of negotiatio n, and had signed it on 6 July 2013. The 
Agreement was the first FTA between China and a co untry on the European continent. It was an 
Agreement of high quality, rich in content and was mutually beneficial. It had entered into force on 
1 July. The two parties had already convened the first meeting of the Joint Committee established under the Agreement in August 2015. 
1.17.  The Agreement was rich in content, it consisted of 16 chapters, including a preamble, 
general provisions, trade in goods, rules of origin and implementation procedures, customs procedures and trade facilitation, trade remedies, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures, trade in services, investment promotion, competition policy, protection of 
IPRs, environmental issues, economic and technical cooperation, institutional provisions, dispute settlement and final provisions. Besides, the Agre ement had 11 annexes including tariff schedules, 
product-specific rules, certificates of origin and schedules of specific commitments of trade in 
services. 
1.18.  It was one of the highest level and most comprehensive Agreement that China had achieved 
in recent years. The proportion of zero-tariff treatment for trade in goods was high. Switzerland 
would immediately eliminate the tariff on 99.7% of its imports from China; China would eventually 
liberalize 84.2% of its imports from Switzerland. By including partial tariff cuts, the total proportion of products that would be liberalize d by Switzerland was 99.99%, while that by China 
was 96.5%. The Agreement established a good mechanism for cooperation between the parties; 
they had agreed to strengthen cooperation in environmental protection to promote their environmental protection standards. They had also agreed to establish a Joint Horologe 
Cooperation Working Group in the framework of the Economic and Trade Joint Committee, through 
which horologe co-operation had already been conducted. The parties had also committed to conduct a dialogue on traditional Chinese medicine co-operation. This mechanism was beneficial to the two parties' pragmatic cooperation to achieve their common development. 
1.19.  The Agreement involved many new rules that previous negotiations had rarely touched 
upon, such as government procurement, environment issues, labour and employment cooperation, IPR protection and competition. There were no internationally uniform standards concerning these 
rules; however, the two parties had not dodged these issues. The Parties had reached consensus 
by seeking common ground while preserving their differences. China for the first time had agreed to set up a separate chapter on environmental issues, and had clearly defined specific rights and 
obligations on IPRs, thus enhancing the transparency and convenience of obligee protection. 
1.20.  With regard to trade in goods, the high standard of the Agreement was clearly reflected. It 
stipulated that as of entry into force Switze rland would immediately eliminate tariffs on 6,958 
products (calculated on the basis of HS code fo r 2010), and would provide a partial tariff cut on 
619 products with a margin of preference from 10% to 50%. China would immediately eliminate 
tariffs on 1,803 products, and would progressively liberalize 5,495 products after a certain period of time. In addition it would provide a 60% tariff cut on 168 products after a transitional period of WT/REG351/M/1 
 
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  10 years, among them an 18% tariff cut for 165 prod ucts from the date of entry into force of the 
Agreement and a linear reduction in the following 9 years.   
1.21.  Concerning rules of origin, the parties had agreed on a self-claimed declaration mode and 
also to relax the related requirements on the format of origin declaration and signature. For the 
first time China had adopted the self-claimed declaration modality by enterprises, which would 
greatly improve the level of trade facilitation an d lower the cost for enterprises. Procedures for 
customs clearance had been simplified, ensuring that the parties' related laws and regulations 
were open and transparent, and utilized means of risk management and information technology, 
to provide efficient and quick customs clearance service for their enterprises. 
1.22.  In services, based on their WTO GATS commitments, the parties had reached further 
agreement to open up related service sectors. Switzerland had made commitments opening 
further areas such as visa approval time, travel, and translation. China had made commitments on 
further opening up services sectors such as securities, etc. 
1.23.  On new issues, environment-related issues had appeared for the first time as a single 
chapter showing China's open position to dealing with this matter. The parties had agreed that it 
was inappropriate to encourage trade and investment by lowering environmental protection standards  which should not be used for trade protectionist purposes. The parties had also agreed 
to enhance cooperation, so as to promote the movement of goods, services and technologies that 
were beneficial for the environment. 
1.24.  The intellectual property rights protection chapter included general provisions, copyright, 
trademarks, patents, industrial designs, genetic resources and traditional knowledge, plant variety 
protection, undisclosed information, geographical indications, law enforcement (including criminal, 
civil and border measures), indications of source and country names. The Agreement had enhanced the transparency and convenience of pr otection of intellectual property right obligees 
and had fully demonstrated China's active and open attitude in the protection of IPRs. 
1.25.  The Chinese, English and French versions  of the Agreement had been published and could 
be accessed through the "Chinese FTA Network" ( http://fta.mofcom.gov.cn ). 
1.26.  The representative of the European Union thanked the parties for their participation in the 
review and the Secretariat for its work in prepar ing the Factual Presentation. The EU appreciated 
the presentations by the Parties which had brought useful and informative insights into the 
Agreement and also highlighted the respective impo rtance of the Agreement for both sides. The EU 
had noted the comprehensive nature of the Agreement and the improved market access 
commitments for various services. It had submitted a few questions aimed at clarifying certain 
aspects of the provisions on trade in services and thanked the parties for the replies. There were 
no follow-up questions but she noted the parties'  commitment to enhance transparency and legal 
security. She acknowledged the relevance of Articl e 2, Section 1 of Annex 6 of the Agreement, 
referred to in paragraph 4.5.1 of the Factual Presentation, establishing that the parties had 
committed to publish a list of the Authorities in charge of granting licences for regulated services as well as the requirements and the procedures fo r obtaining such licences. For the EU this was a 
good example of provisions for enhancing transparency at the bilateral level that could also have a 
positive impact at the multilateral level. 
1.27.  The representative of the United States joined other delegations in thanking the parties for 
their participation in the review and the Secretariat for its work in the Factual Presentation and, in 
particular, for the additional analysis and technical work carried out to make the Swiss tariff 
schedule comparable across agreements. He appreciate d the additional details provided in the oral 
statements. There was much of interest includ ed in the Agreement and in the descriptions 
including  provisions related to the environment, labour and employment, intellectual property 
rights, transparency and competition. He thanked the parties for the review and for the chance to 
examine this important Agreement. The United States had posed one written question to the 
delegation of China and appreciated the respon se. While he acknowledged that the parties had 
submitted an early announcement on the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework 
Agreement (ECFA), the question by the U.S. pertai ned to the notification requirement triggered by 
the application of preferential treatment between parties. The TM clearly distinguished between an 
early announcement and a notification. The response by China did not dispute the existence of the WT/REG351/M/1 
 
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  application of preferential treatment between the two parties so the U.S. reiterated his request for 
clarification on when China intended to provide a notification for the preferential treatment that 
was being provided under ECFA. He requested ackn owledgment of the U.S. follow-up question to 
China. 
1.28.  The representative of Japan thanked the parties for their comprehensive presentations and 
the Secretariat for preparing the Factual Presentati on. Japan appreciated the Parties' responses to 
their written questions. The capital was still review ing them so Japan reserved the right to submit 
follow-up questions if necessary. 
1.29.  The Chairman said consideration of the Goods and Services Aspects of the Free Trade 
Agreement between Switzerland and China had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of 
questions and the oral discussion of the RTA could be concluded in accordance with paragraph 11 
of the Transparency Mechanism. If any delegation s wished to ask follow-up questions they were 
invited to forward submissions in writing to th e Secretariat by 1 October 2015 and Parties were 
asked to submit replies in writing by no later than 15 October 2015. In accordance with paragraph 
13 of the Transparency Mechanism all written su bmissions, as well as minutes of the meeting 
would be circulated promptly, in all WTO official  languages, and would be made available on the 
WTO website. 
1.30.  The Committee took note of the comments made. 
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