The Protocol upgraded the original free trade agreement, further improved the eight original chapters of the agreement, including trade in goods, rules of origin and implementation procedures, customs procedures and trade facilitation, technical trade barriers, trade in services, investment, competition, economic and technical cooperation, and added 2 chapters on digital trade, trade and sustainable development to the original agreement. The text of the Protocol includes a preamble, new and updated sections and relevant annexes, and general provisions. It mainly has the following characteristics: First, it comprehensively enhances the level of openness. According to the FTA upgrade arrangement, on the basis of the original agreement, China and Switzerland have made high-level two-way opening-up commitments in the fields of goods, services, and investment. On the basis of mutual benefit and win-win situation, reducing tariffs on their key products, expanding market access in services and investment, and further improving the level of trade and investment liberalization will strongly promote the two-way flow of goods, services and investment between the two countries and provide more opportunities for enterprises of the two countries to expand their markets. The second is to promote the optimization of the business environment. The two sides have further optimized rules relating to trade in goods, origin and trade facilitation, comprehensively upgraded domestic regulations on trade in services, reached high-level investment facilitation rules, and improved competition-related rules to effectively maintain a fair competitive market environment, which will provide more stable, transparent and predictable institutional guarantees for the long-term development of enterprises of the two countries. The third is to further expand into emerging fields. The two sides adapt to new trends in international economic and trade development, focus on the need to promote the development of emerging industries, actively explore and formulate rules in emerging fields, and establish institutional arrangements in the fields of digital trade, standards and conformity assessment cooperation, supply chain, trade and sustainable development, reflecting the common will and actions of the two sides to actively lead international rule-making and promote practical cooperation in emerging fields.

The Protocol upgraded the original free trade agreement, further improved the eight original chapters of the agreement, including trade in goods, rules of origin and implementation procedures, customs procedures and trade facilitation, technical trade barriers, trade in services, investment, competition, economic and technical cooperation, and added 2 chapters on digital trade, trade and sustainable development to the original agreement. The text of the Protocol includes a preamble, new and updated sections and relevant annexes, and general provisions. It mainly has the following characteristics: First, it comprehensively enhances the level of openness. According to the FTA upgrade arrangement, on the basis of the original agreement, China and Switzerland have made high-level two-way opening-up commitments in the fields of goods, services, and investment. On the basis of mutual benefit and win-win situation, reducing tariffs on their key products, expanding market access in services and investment, and further improving the level of trade and investment liberalization will strongly promote the two-way flow of goods, services and investment between the two countries and provide more opportunities for enterprises of the two countries to expand their markets. The second is to promote the optimization of the business environment. The two sides have further optimized rules relating to trade in goods, origin and trade facilitation, comprehensively upgraded domestic regulations on trade in services, reached high-level investment facilitation rules, and improved competition-related rules to effectively maintain a fair competitive market environment, which will provide more stable, transparent and predictable institutional guarantees for the long-term development of enterprises of the two countries. The third is to further expand into emerging fields. The two sides adapt to new trends in international economic and trade development, focus on the need to promote the development of emerging industries, actively explore and formulate rules in emerging fields, and establish institutional arrangements in the fields of digital trade, standards and conformity assessment cooperation, supply chain, trade and sustainable development, reflecting the common will and actions of the two sides to actively lead international rule-making and promote practical cooperation in emerging fields.