Some Swiss import duties could be axed

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Swiss import duties on a number of industrial products might disappear if a plan put forward by Guy Parmelin, Switzerland’s economic’s minister, is approved by the National Council, Switzerland’s parliament.

The changes are expected to benefit businesses and consumers by around CHF 860 million a year. On the other hand, the government will miss out on collecting roughly CHF 500 million a year of revenue from import duties.

Products covered by the plan include cars, clothing, household appliances, bicycles, healthcare products and a number of other industrial products. On average these products attract duty of 1.8%. Clothing is taxed at 4%.

Sophie Michaud-Gigon, a representative of FRC, a consumer association, told RTS that its rare to see lower import costs leading to lower prices.

If accepted, the duties would disappear on 1 January 2022, according to RTS.

Unfortunately for some consumers, none of the highly taxed food items such as meat and dairy products are on this list. Duty on some beef products can rise above CHF 20 per kg. Cream and butter (CHF 7.65 per kg) are other products with high import duty.