On 24 June, the Swiss Government decided to impose coercive measures in response to the current situation in Nicaragua. Switzerland is therefore joining the European Union in imposing sanctions on Nicaragua due to ongoing violations against human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Our previous blog post on the EU’s recent imposition of sanctions is available here. The Swiss Federal Council has issued an Ordinance imposing financial and travel sanctions against six persons with ties…
I. U.S. SanctionsAs reported in our Client Alert dated November 27, 2013, the United States and its partners in the P5+1 (i.e., China, France, Germany, Russian, and the United Kingdom) reached an initial understanding with Iran on November 24, 2013, outlined in a Joint Plan of Action (“JPOA”), targeted at gaining commitments from Iran on enrichment reductions, non-proliferation, and inspections of its nuclear program. In return, the P5+1 nations agreed to a gradual, step-by-step suspension…
On 6 July 2013, the People’s Republic of China (“China”) and Switzerland signed a free trade agreement (the “FTA”) after nine rounds of negotiations. The FTA will improve mutual market access for goods and services, enhance legal security for the protection of intellectual property and bilateral economic exchange in general, and deepen bilateral cooperation. The FTA is expected to come into effect in 2014.The FTA has a comprehensive coverage and will improve market access for…
Join us for our 2013 Global International Trade Compliance Webinar Series. The focus this year will be on “Globalization of the Supply Chain: Trade Regulation and Developments.” We expect 2013 to an exciting year, with many developments on the trade regulation side. We will focus on WTO developments in Russia, trade agreements and what US trade policy will look like post-election. We will also conduct several webinar sessions that will focus on recent enforcement cases…