What have the UK and Switzerland agreed on their trade relationship post-Brexit?
The text(s) of the agreement(s) signed on February 11, 2019 is(are) not available publicly but there are interesting insights in a Swiss government information sheet, prepared mainly for Swiss companies, and dealing only with trade in goods, not services.
A key point to make is that this is not exactly “rolling over” to the UK the present Swiss-EU trade relationship. It only looks at two situations: a transition under the Withdrawal Agreement, but not beyond; and the UK’s disorderly exit from the EU if there is no deal.
The Press releases of the February 11 reveals that UK now calls it a “trade continuity agreement”, whereas two months earlier it described it as a “transition” to an eventual deal.
The Economic Affairs Ministry’s main pages linking to the information sheets (the latest versions) and are available in French, German and Italian. The English page links to the German version.
The information sheet goes through a number of relevant agreements. In each case it looks at “deal” (the UK leaves with the Withdrawal Agreement and transition), and “no deal”. “Deal” only looks at the transition, not beyond.
Among the most extensive revisions in the February 11 version are in the section on rules of origin with “no deal”, and the removal of “double no deal” in government procurement.
Worth looklng into (for all of us nerds).
Source: Trade & Blog/P.Ungphakorn
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