Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 13 • Number 29 • 5th August 2009
Switzerland – Japan FTA to Take Effect 1 Sept
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A deal between Switzerland and Japan to slash tariffs on bilateral trade will take effect on 1 September, officials from the two countries announced last week. The agreement, which was signed in Tokyo in February, will be Switzerland’s biggest free trade deal since the 1972 accord that it signed with the European Community.
Officials from the two countries exchanged diplomatic notes on 29 July that confirmed the launch date of the deal, the Swiss ministry of the economy said in a statement.
The pact will do away with tariffs on goods and services in a range of sectors, including industrial products, meat, telecommunications, and financial services; within ten years, 99 percent of all trade between the two countries will be duty free. The accord will also ease regulations on intellectual property rights, increase investment protections, and facilitate the movement of workers between Switzerland and Japan.
The two countries are major trading partners: in 2008, Swiss exports to Japan totalled nearly US$ 6.7 billion, while Japanese exports to Switzerland came to roughly US$ 3.9 billion. According to figures from the Swiss national bank, Swiss foreign investment in Japan amounted to more than US$ 13 billion at the end of 2007, making the country Japan’s eighth-largest foreign investor.
Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, is Switzerland’s biggest trading partner in Asia. The trade deal with Berne is Tokyo’s first with a European country.
Additional information
To read the full text of the agreement, please visit http://www.seco.admin.ch/themen/00513/02655/02731/02970/index.html?lang=en
ICTSD reporting.
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