The United States and Switzerland reached agreement in 1996 to expand the scope of public procurement access on a bilateral basis. With the exception of certain restrictions on agricultural items, the Swiss market is essentially open for the import of U.S. goods. The government has negotiated, but not yet ratified, an agreement with the European Union that neither country will subsidize dairy product exports to the other. Protection of U.S. Intellectual Property Switzerland has one of the best regimes in the world for the protection of intellectual property and protection is afforded equally to foreign and domestic rights holders. Switzerland is a member of all major international intellectual property rights conventions and was an active supporter of a strong IPR text on the GATT Uruguay Round negotiations.
Enforcement is generally very good.
A new Copyright Law in 1993 improved a regime that was already quite good. The law explicitly recognizes computer software as a literary work and establishes a remuneration scheme for private copying of audio and video works which distributes proceeds on the basis of national treatment. The new regulation enacted by the Swiss Intercantonal Office for the Control of Medicines mandates a 10-year protection period for such data. Prior to this regulation taking effect, the lack of protection in this area negatively impacted one U.S. company. However, it is now very unlikely that any further problems will arise for U.S. firms.