Foreign Economy

Abo­li­tion of in­dus­trial tar­iffs

Switzer­land will set im­port du­ties on all in­dus­trial prod­ucts to zero francs. This will be the case from 1st of Jan­u­ary 2024. Swiss busi­ness wel­comes this, as the abo­li­tion of in­dus­trial tar­iffs will help to ease the ad­min­is­tra­tive and fi­nan­cial bur­den on Swiss com­pa­nies, as well as strength­en­ing the busi­ness lo­ca­tion.

Customs & origin
Trade barriers
Freetrade

Contact
Dr. Jan Atteslander
Member of the Executive Board, Head of Department International Relations
+41 44 421 35 30
jan.atteslander@economiesuisse.ch
Catia Capaul
Project Manager International Relations
+41 44 421 35 76
catia.capaul@economiesuisse.ch

Our Position

  • Re­mov­ing cus­toms du­ties on in­dus­trial im­ports is an im­por­tant ad­min­is­tra­tive re­lief. The in­tended fa­cil­i­ta­tion of im­port­ing in­dus­trial prod­ucts gives Swiss com­pa­nies ac­cess to more cost-ef­fec­tive pre­lim­i­nary prod­ucts and re­duces the ne­ces­sity for com­pli­cated cus­toms pro­ce­dures.
  • Ad­di­tion­ally, the abo­li­tion of in­dus­trial tar­iffs also ben­e­fits the au­thor­i­ties and con­sumers be­cause it re­duces the bu­reau­cratic bur­den on the ad­min­is­tra­tion and serves as an ef­fec­tive means of com­bat­ing Switzer­land as a high-price is­land. Thus, the econ­omy as a whole ben­e­fits (higher eco­nomic out­put of CHF 860 mil­lion an­nu­ally).
  • The abo­li­tion of cus­toms du­ties must be fol­lowed by re­mov­ing fur­ther trade bar­ri­ers (among oth­ers through dig­i­tal­i­sa­tion and sim­pli­fi­ca­tion of cus­toms processes, re­moval of tech­ni­cal bar­ri­ers to trade and the con­clu­sion of fur­ther free trade agree­ments) if Switzer­land wants to re­main an at­trac­tive busi­ness lo­ca­tion.

The amend­ment to the Swiss Cus­toms Tar­iff Act will abol­ish im­port du­ties on in­dus­trial prod­ucts as of 1st of Jan­u­ary 2024 and sim­plify the cus­toms tar­iff struc­ture. The term in­dus­trial prod­ucts cov­ers al­most all goods. Agri­cul­tural prod­ucts (in­clud­ing an­i­mal feed) and fish­ery prod­ucts are ex­cluded. More pre­cisely, it in­cludes all goods in chap­ters 25 - 97 of the Swiss cus­toms tar­iff, ex­cept for some goods that are clas­si­fied as agri­cul­tural prod­ucts. The Ap­pen­dix of Swiss Cus­toms Tar­iff lists the goods con­cerned by Swiss tar­iff num­bers.

 

Pub­li­ca­tions by ex­ter­nal or­gan­i­sa­tions:

 In­for­ma­tion by SECO on abo­li­tion of in­dus­trial tar­iffs

Ap­pen­dix of Swiss Cus­toms Tar­iff (only avail­able in Ger­man)

In­for­ma­tion by the Fed­eral Of­fice for Cus­toms and Bor­der Se­cu­rity on abo­li­tion of in­dus­trial tar­iffs (only avail­able in Ger­man)

​In­for­ma­tion by the FOCBS - In­flu­ence on the ori­gin of ex­ports within the frame­work of the FTA due to abo­li­tion of in­dus­trial tar­iffs (only avail­able in Ger­man)

Key Take-Aways for com­pa­nies

key take aways

Con­sult avail­able mas­ter data on cus­toms tar­iff (avail­able only in Ger­man)

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