EU foods are expected to continue to benefit from the facilitated import regime in Switzerland. The Council of States (senate) refused by a very large majority, on 17 June, to exclude them from the 'Cassis de Dijon principle', a landmark EU Court of Justice ruling. The other chamber (the National Council), which is opposed, will have to vote again.
The Council of State left intact the principle taken up unilaterally by Switzerland in 2010, but disputed in particular by the…
Background
The 'Cassis de Dijon principle' is named after a 1979 ruling by the EU Court of Justice (Case 120/78). This principle of mutual recognition in the non-harmonised area of technical requirements was later clarified in Regulation (EC) 764/2008. In essence: a member state cannot ban the sale on its territory of a product lawfully produced and marketed in another member state, whatever technical or quality standards are applied by the state of origin, provided the product in question suitably and adequately fulfils the lawful objectives of the regulations of the destination state (safety, consumer protection, environment, etc). Switzerland adopted the principle unilaterally in 2010 for certain EU imports.
