Opening the door to more judicial support for the Internal Market Act by allowing the Competition Commission to appeal to the Federal Supreme Court would also help. In the telecommunications sector, liberalization has brought the visible benefit of falling prices. Similar benefits of lower prices and more choice would follow from liberalization of the electricity sector. This should be speeded up. More generally, the thicket of regulations, especially at the cantonal level, should be scrutinized, and those that needlessly harm competition or raise the cost of doing business or starting up an enterprise, should be eliminated.
Agriculture remains one of Switzerland's most sheltered markets.
More aggressive reform would benefit consumers and help alleviate labor shortages in other sectors of the economy. While Switzerland is participating in the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standards, further efforts to improve the quality and comprehensiveness of statistics are strongly encouraged. A lack of timely data on wages, for example, hinders important economic analysis and the national accounts statistics need to be upgraded to more current methodology. Weaknesses also exist in balance of payments and fiscal data. Switzerland's intention to continue publishing its IMF Article IV staff report is welcomed.