The new 'Swissness' legislation

The new 'Swissness' legislation covers a revision of the Federal Act on the Protection of Trade Marks and Indications of Source (TmPA), as well as a complete revision of the Federal Act on the Protection of the Swiss Coats of Arms and other Public Signs

 

After nearly four years of parliamentary discussions, the bill was accepted by Parliament in the final vote on 21 June 2013. Both Councils followed the Federal Council's solution in all central points and regulated them in more detail. This means that for Swiss food, 80% of the weight of the raw materials concerned must come from Switzerland and the essential processing must also take place in Switzerland. For milk and milk products, however, Parliament introduced a special regulation of 100% milk as the raw material. The availability of the raw materials is to be determined by the self-supply rate in Switzerland. For other Swiss products, in particular industrial products such as watches, 60% of the manufacturing costs must occur in Switzerland as well as the essential manufacturing step. For services, the Councils provide for a regulation that also takes into consideration corporate group relationships and simultaneously reduces the risk of wrongful use. With the adoption of the bill, Parliament has fulfilled its own demand for an adequate reinforcement of protection.

The ordinances encompass a revision of the Trade Mark Protection Ordinance, a 'Swissness' ordinance for foodstuffs, a register ordinance and a coat of arms ordinance.

The University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur will analyse the overall economic effects of “Swissness” in collaboration with BAK Economics starting in 2018. The study will particularly focus on impacts of “Swissness” in the areas of industrial products and services. In addition, htp St. Gallen and Interface Politikstudien will be jointly researching the effects of the new legislation on the foods sector. The results of both studies will be presented to the Federal Council and Parliament by 2021.

 

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