. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CHE/127 
17 September 2010 
 (10-4704) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   French 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  SWITZERLAND
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible:  Office fédéral de la santé publique  (Federal Office of Public Health, 
OFSP), Bern. 
Name and address (including telephone  and fax numbers, e-mail and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above :  Secrétariat d'État 
à l'économie  (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO) Effingerstrasse 1, CH-3003 
Bern 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [ ], 5.6.2 [ ], 5.7.1 [ ], other: 
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.  
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   Food and basic 
commodities 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Révision de la loi 
fédérale sur les denrées alimentaires  (Revision of the Federal Law on Food) 
(German, 30 pages;  French, 26 pages) 
6. Description of content:  The draft revision  is based, for food, on Regulation (EC) 
No. 178/2002 and, for basic commodities, on Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety.  The fundamental principles set forth in these texts are to be reflected in Swiss law.  
The revised law most notably seeks to reprodu ce the terms and definitions of Community 
law, introduce a ban on fraudulent or deceptive practices in respect of certain basic 
commodities, provide explicitly for the precau tionary principle, and renounce tolerance 
values for micro-organisms, foreign substa nces and components.  It also renounces the 
positive list principle.  Under the new regula tions, foodstuffs may be put on the market 
even when not described in an ordinance under a specific name or when not authorized by 
the OFSP, as long as they are safe.  Shower and bath water will henceforth be included 
under the scope of the Law on Food. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
To harmonize Swiss legislati on on food and basic commodities with that of the 
European Union.  G/TBT/N/CHE/127 
Page 2  
 
  8. Relevant documents:  
- Loi fédérale du 9 octobre 1992 sur les de nrées alimentaires et les objets usuels  
(Federal Law of 9 October 1992 on Food and Basic Commodities) (RS 817.0).  Available in German, French and Italian:  http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/rs/8/817.0.fr.pdf 
- Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, 
establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety: 
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriSer v.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:031:0001:0024:EN:PDF  
- Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
3 December 2001 on general product safety: 
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriSer v.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:011:0004:0017:EN:PDF  
9. Proposed date of adoption: 
Proposed date of entry into force:  } 2013 
10. Final date for comments:  23 September 2010 
11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [X], or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and website addresses,  if available of the other body:  
http://members.wto.org/crnatt achments/2010/tbt/CHE/10_3399_00_x.pdf  
http://members.wto.org/crnatt achments/2010/tbt/CHE/10_3399_01_x.pdf