G/TBT/N/CHE/215  
 
7 February 2017  
(17-0734) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original : English  
 
  NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member : SWITZERLAND  
If applicable, name of local government involved  (Article 3.2 and 7.2) : 
2. Agency responsible : Swiss Federal Office of Energy  
Nam e and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification  shall be indicated if different from above : 
State Secretariat for Economic Affair s SECO  
Holzikofenweg 36, 3003 Berne  
E-mail: tbt@seco.admin.ch   
Website : http://www.seco.admin.ch   
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X], 2.10.1 [  ], 5.6.2 [ X], 5.7.1 [  ], othe r: The notification 
is done without prejudice to the question of the applicability of the TBT Agreement.  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable) : Passe nger cars, light 
commercial vehicles (vans and tractor trucks up to 3.5 t gross vehicle weight)  
5. Title, number of pages  and language(s)  of the notified document : Draft revision of 
the CO2 Ordinance, Articles 2, 17 -37, 130, 134 -135, 146d and Annexes 4, 4 a and 5 
(8 pages, available in German, French and Italian)    
6. Description of content : Since 2012, the CO 2 act and ordinance stipulate that CO 2 
emissions of new passenger cars be reduced to 130 g/km, covering the entire new fleet by 
2015. On September 30 th 2016, the Swiss parliament adopted a partial revision of the CO 2 
act aiming at reducing further the emissions of new cars to 95 g/km and introducing a 
target for light commercial vehicles of 147 g/km by 2020. The proposed total revision of 
the CO 2 ordinance details the implementation of the corresponding articles of the CO 2 act. 
The ordinance follows closely the corresponding cons olidated EU Regulations 
(EC) No 443/2009 and (EU) No 510/2011 with minor changes where it was unavoidable. 
The main difference s are (1) that the importer of a car and not the manufacturer is 
responsible for target compliance and (2) a differentiation is made between large -scale 
importers (>= 50 cars registered for the first time), for which target compliance is 
assessed using fle et average values at the end of every reference year, and small 
importers (< 50 cars) who have to pay a possible penalty before the registration of any 
new passenger car for implementation reasons; (3) the specification of phasing -in shares, 
and (4) for li ght commercial vehicles, of super -credit factors differ. The EU's de -minimis 
clause (5) is not implemented, and vehicles approved indiv idually and in small series 
(6) are also subject to the CO 2 targets. Individual vehicles may be transferred (7) between 
different importers' accounts in order to provide flexibility. The major features of the EU 
regulation, in particular the scope, specific emission targets calculation, derogations for 
certain manufacturers' vehicles, pooling of fleets, the premium per gram of excess CO 2, 
and eco -innovations, have been adopted uniformly.  G/TBT/N/CHE/215  
 
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  7. Objective and rationale , including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable : The regulation reduces CO 2 emissions, combats climate change and reduces 
the dependence on fossil energy  resources as well as fuel expenditures for vehicle owners.  
8. Relevant documents : CO2 Ordinance of 30 November 2012 (SR 641.711) (available in 
French, German and Italian)  
9. Proposed date of adoption : 1 January 2018  
Proposed date of entry into force : 1 January 2018  
10. Final date for comments : 5 May 2017  
11. Texts available from : National enquiry point  [X] or address, telephone and fax 
number s and e mail and website address es, if available , of other body : 
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/TBT/CHE/17_0663_00_f.pdf   
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/TBT/CHE/17_0663_00_x 1.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/TBT/CHE/17_0663_00_x2.pdf