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PRESS/TPRB/308 
15 December 2008 
 
(08-6110) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: SWITZERLAND AND LIECHTENSTEIN 
External trade is centra l to the two economies 
Since their last review in 2004, the economies of Switzerland and Liechtenstein have grown on 
average by 2,7% per year for Switzerland and 2,2%  for Liechtenstein, led by exports and private 
consumption, according to a WTO Secretariat joint report on the trade policies and practices of 
both countries. External trade (including access to foreign markets) is central to both economies; their ratios of external trade to GDP exceed 100%.  
 
Switzerland and Liechtenstein have pursued the liberalization of their trade regimes through 
multilateral, regional, and bilateral agreements. At the bilateral level, priority has been given to 
trade liberalization with the EC, that has led to a continued process of harmonizing their trade 
policy instruments with those of the EC. But the WTO Secretariat report also indicates that participation in various preferential trade agreements makes their trade regimes somewhat 
complex. 
 The reform of the Cartel Act strengthened the Swiss competition regime. Nevertheless, 
competition remains somewhat limited in areas such as agriculture, health care, and public 
transport, contributing to higher prices. Further reforms, including the planned elimination of subsidies for basic agricultural products, and increased competition through, inter alia , reduction 
or elimination of tariffs, mainly for agricultural products, would benefit consumers and improve 
resource allocation.  
The WTO report, along with a policy statem ent by the Governments of Switzerland and 
Liechtenstein, will be the basis for the third join t TPR of Switzerland and Liechtenstein by the Trade 
Policy Review Body of the WTO on 15 and 17 December 2008. 
 
The following documents are available in MS Wo rd format on the WTO web-site. They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp308_e.htm  
 
• Secretariat reports 
> Contents and summary observations  
> Economic environment  
> Trade and investment regimes  > Trade policies and practices by measure  
> Trade policies by sector  
> Appendix tables  PRESS/TPRB/308 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
 • Report by the Governments of Switzerland and Liechtenstein 
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). 
Note 
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO Agreement, in which member 
countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant 
developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each 
review, two documents are prepared: a policy stat ement by the government of the member under 
review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in  the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These 
documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.  
 Print copies of the TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William 
Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop at 
https://secure.vtx.ch/shop/boutiques/wto_index_boutique.html  or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews  
 
The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press , 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States 
Next reviews: 
Guatemala: 2 and 4 February 2009 
Japan: 18 and 20 February 2009 
Brazil: 9 and 11 March2009 
 For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to 
http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/tpr_e/tpr_ e.htm#reviews 
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews  
 
 
END