The China-Switzerland free trade agreement officially entered into effect on July 1 2014 is the second such agreement that the Chinese authorities have signed with a European country and the first with a country in the top 20 richest economies in the world. The agreement makes explicit reference to another agreement on cooperation over labor and employment between both Ministries for Employment. The Swiss Federation of Trade Unions intends to continue the dialogue over social standards and maintain pressure on the Chinese authorities even if it considers the provision as too weak.
The second agreement after Iceland and the one before Norway. Negotiations officially started in January 2011 and after nine rounds of negotiations an agreement was signed in July 2013. The agreement provides for 99.7% of Chinese exports to Switzerland to be free from tariffs and the free-tariff percentage of Swiss exports to China will be 84.2%. All industrial products will be free from tariffs as well as a large majority of agro-food products. The agreement also contains provisions on public procurement, the environment, intellectual property, and competition.
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