On October 30, under the joint witness of President Xi Jinping and President of the Swiss Confederation Parmland, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Secretary of State of the Swiss Federal Ministry of Economics, Education and Research and Director of the General Administration of Economic Affairs Budrig signed the Protocol to Upgrade the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the "Protocol") in Beijing. The person in charge of the International Department of the Ministry of Commerce explained the relevant situation of the "Protocol".
1. The importance of signing the Protocol
Switzerland is an important cooperative partner of China and has always been at the forefront of cooperation with China. In 2013, China and Switzerland signed a free trade agreement, which was the first free trade agreement signed between China and a country in continental Europe. Since the implementation of the agreement, the overall effect has been good, and cooperation in the economic and trade fields has continued to deepen. Switzerland is China's seventh largest trading partner in Europe, and China is Switzerland's largest trading partner in Asia. In 2025, bilateral trade volume will reach US$49.04 billion.
2026 marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of an innovative strategic partnership between China and Switzerland, and is also the first year of China’s “15th Five-Year Plan”. Upgrading the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement is not only a concrete measure to implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 20th Plenary Session, but also the latest practice to expand high-level opening up and create a new situation of win-win cooperation. Signing the Protocol will help further expand market access and promote two-way investment, release greater cooperation potential in bilateral trade and investment, and bring more innovation opportunities and development dividends to the enterprises and people of the two countries. At the same time, the signing of the Protocol also fully demonstrated the clear attitude of both parties to choose certainty and support free trade in the current international environment full of uncertainties, and has important demonstration significance for countries to work together to cope with international economic and trade challenges.
2. Main contents and characteristics of the Protocol
The "Protocol" upgrades the original free trade agreement and further improves 8 original chapters of the agreement, including trade in goods, rules of origin and implementation procedures, customs procedures and trade facilitation, technical trade barriers, trade in services, investment, competition, and economic and technological cooperation. It also adds 2 new chapters on digital trade, trade and sustainable development based on the original agreement. The text of the Protocol includes a preamble, new and updated chapters and relevant annexes, and general provisions. It mainly has the following features:
First, comprehensively improve the level of openness. According to the free trade agreement upgrade arrangement, China and Switzerland have made high-level two-way openness commitments in the fields of goods, services and investment on the basis of the original agreement. On the basis of mutual benefit and win-win, they will reduce tariffs on their respective key products, expand service trade and investment market access, and further enhance the level of trade and investment liberalization. This will effectively promote the two-way flow of goods, services, and investment between the two countries, and provide more opportunities for enterprises of the two countries to expand their markets.
The second is to promote the optimization of the business environment. The two sides have further optimized rules related to trade in goods, origin and trade facilitation, comprehensively upgraded domestic regulatory provisions for trade in services, reached high-level investment facilitation rules, and improved competition-related rules to effectively maintain a market environment of fair competition, which will provide more stable, transparent and predictable institutional guarantees for the long-term development of enterprises in both countries.
The third is to deepen the expansion of emerging fields. The two sides have adapted to the new trends in international economic and trade development, focused on the need to promote the development of emerging industries, actively explored and formulated rules in emerging fields, and established institutional arrangements in the fields of digital trade, standards and conformity assessment cooperation, supply chain, trade and sustainable development, reflecting the common will and actions of both parties to actively lead the formulation of international rules and promote pragmatic cooperation in emerging fields.
3. Provisions of the Protocol in the field of trade in goods
In terms of market access for goods trade, the two sides have reached mutually beneficial and win-win high-level tariff reduction results, and will further reduce tariff levels between the two countries on the basis of the original free trade agreement. According to the latest tariff reduction arrangement, China and Switzerland will further reduce tariff levels on nearly 300 tax items based on the original agreement. The products that will eventually implement zero tariffs will cover more than 99% of the trade volume between the two parties. In terms of specific products, Sweden has canceled all tariffs on industrial products in the original agreement. In the upgrade protocol, it will further significantly open up the agricultural product market through the immediate implementation of zero tariffs or partial tax reductions, making its opening commitment to the highest level of external liberalization. China's key products such as oilseed kernels, vegetable oils, and pet food will enter the Swedish market with more preferential tariff treatment. On the basis of the original agreement, China will further grant preferential tariff treatment to Swiss products through the immediate implementation of zero tariffs or the implementation of zero tariffs during the transition period of 5 or 10 years. Swiss coffee, machine tools, watches and other products exported to China will gradually eliminate tariffs on the basis of partial or no tax reductions in the original agreement.
In the area of rules of origin and implementation procedures, the two parties have optimized the relevant provisions of the existing text based on the implementation of the agreement and the current development status of rules of origin. In terms of product-specific rules of origin, the two sides have appropriately relaxed the maximum proportion of non-original materials for some products, and added the option of changing the tax classification standards for some products, providing more choices and convenient benefits for enterprises on both sides.
In the field of customs procedures and trade facilitation, both parties jointly confirmed the applicability of the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement in bilateral cooperation, effectively enhancing the systematization and consistency of bilateral customs procedures and trade facilitation measures. The two parties added new single window, cargo release and other rules to the Protocol, and established provisions for the rapid release of perishable goods. At the same time, they introduced the "Smart Customs Partner Program" to reserve an institutional interface for deepening cooperation in the future.
In the field of technical trade barriers, the two sides reached an agreement on the inclusion of standardization cooperation annexes and conformity assessment cooperation annexes, etc., and agreed to give priority to the coordination and docking of standards and conformity assessment in cooperation areas of common concern, and to clarify the methods, paths and contents of cooperation. The upgraded agreement will build an all-round cooperation system covering standards and conformity assessment, providing solid technical support for the growth of trade between the two countries.
4. Provisions of the Protocol in the fields of trade in services and investment
In the field of trade in services, both sides have further improved market access levels and made high-level opening-up commitments in multiple specific areas. Switzerland has made a number of new opening-up commitments in the fields of movement of natural persons and traditional Chinese medicine, including: allowing Chinese medicine talents to go to Switzerland to provide non-practice services such as education, training and scientific research; allowing Chinese legal consulting, accounting review, financial auditing and other industries to go to Switzerland to provide short-term contract services; allowing spouses and children of Chinese executives to enter Switzerland and stay in Switzerland for a long time; further opening up equipment repair and maintenance, garbage disposal and other service sectors. China has opened up manufacturing-related services and professional design sectors to Sweden, and has made high-level commitments in finance, shipping, air transport and other fields. In terms of service trade rules, both parties have comprehensively upgraded domestic regulatory provisions and incorporated the "WTO Reference Document on Domestic Regulation of Trade in Services" into the agreement, effectively improving the transparency of bilateral service industry policies.
In the field of non-service industry investment, the two sides have reached high-level investment access and facilitation rules, which will create a more stable, fair and predictable business environment for investors from both countries and further promote two-way investment cooperation. The two sides committed to grant each other pre-establishment national treatment and most-favored-nation treatment in the form of a negative list, and promised not to impose performance requirements such as local content and forced transfer of technology; they also made non-discriminatory market access commitments in the form of a positive list. In addition, the two sides have also reached consensus on rules closely related to investment access, such as personnel mobility and transparency, based on facilitating two-way investment.
5. Other areas of rules in the Protocol
In the field of competition, the two parties upgraded and expanded the original agreement to 11 special clauses. The two parties reached consensus on the inclusion of provisions on competition law enforcement principles, information exchange, technical cooperation and capacity building. In particular, it stipulates that the application of competition law will not be discriminatory based on nationality or ownership. It is also clear that both parties can make enforcement action notifications at the early stage of enforcement actions, which is conducive to maintaining a fair competitive market environment. It will further promote the systematic standardization of the rule system and enhance cross-border pragmatic cooperation.
In the field of digital trade, the agreement adds a special chapter on digital trade. Both parties promise not to impose electronic transmission tariffs on each other, strengthen the protection of personal information, fully realize digital customs clearance, and reduce transaction costs. The two sides also committed to cooperate in areas such as artificial intelligence and electronic bills of lading to inject impetus into deepening and expanding bilateral digital economic cooperation. What is particularly noteworthy is that China has included special provisions for source code protection in a bilateral free trade agreement for the first time, which is an important breakthrough in my country's construction of digital trade rules. The agreement includes non-discrimination rules on telecommunications infrastructure, marking the first time that China has reached relevant institutional arrangements with a European country.
In the field of economic and technological cooperation, the two sides agreed to further enhance practical cooperation in agriculture, traditional Chinese medicine, supply chain, watches, small and medium-sized enterprises and other fields on the basis of the original agreement.
In the field of trade and sustainable development, the two sides have comprehensively upgraded the environmental chapter of the original agreement to include promotion of trade in environmental goods and services, responsible business conduct, sustainable forestry, trade and climate change, trade and biodiversity, sustainable fisheries, sustainable agriculture, clean energy transition, circular economy, etc. The two sides also included content related to labor and employment cooperation in principle.
6. Effective date of the Protocol
After the protocol is signed, both parties will respectively carry out their respective domestic legal approval procedures and promote the early entry into force of the protocol. We will publish the text on the China Free Trade Zone Service Network (http://fta.mofcom.gov.cn) for public inquiry and reference.
