Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2021 to Question 78372, Teesside Freeport: Switzerland, which products that were previously subject to duty drawback prohibitions under the UK-Switzerland FTA are now not subject to those terms.

The United Kingdom-Switzerland Joint Trade Committee updated the Rules of Origin protocol through a Joint Committee Decision on 16^th July 2021. The changes have been provisionally applied since 1^st September 2021, whilst the United Kingdom and Switzerland undergo parliamentary procedures to bring the amendment into force.

The changes reflect the revision of the rules between Switzerland and the EU as part of the updates to the Regional Convention on Pan-Euro-Mediterranean (PEM) Preferential Rules of Origin that Switzerland are subject to. They provide modernised rules of origin provisions, including removing the duty drawback prohibition on all products other than textiles, as is the case in the revised PEM rules of origin.