Fight against fraud

A border guard and a customs officer present 3500 cartons of cigarettes after a customs seizure at Geneva airport.
Confiscation at Geneva airport: The agreement with the EU also serves to combat smuggling. © Keystone

The Agreement on the fight against fraud of 2004 improves cooperation between Switzerland and the European Union (EU) and its member states in combating smuggling and other offences in the area of indirect taxation, e.g. customs duties, value added tax, consumer tax, as well as in relation to subsidies and public procurement markets.

The Agreement covers both administrative and legal assistance. Within this framework, the same instruments are available to both Switzerland and the EU authorities and its member states that are used in their own domestic procedures («national treatment»).

Chronology

2009

  • Early implementation of the Agreement by Switzerland in cooperation with those EU countries that have also both ratified it and submitted a declaration about its early application (08.04.2009)

2004

  • Approval by Parliament (17.12.2004)
  • Signing of the Agreement (in the framework of Bilateral Agreements II) (26.10.2004)

Status September 2019