The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) have concluded negotiations on an enhanced Free Trade Agreement. Building on the existing goods-focused agreement, itself based on the EU-Switzerland agreement signed in 1972, this enhanced deal modernises and deepens the trading relationship with one of our closest economic partners.
The UK is a services superpower, and this agreement is estimated to increase UK services exports to Switzerland by £5.2 billion annually in the long run. It will make it cheaper and easier for businesses and professionals to travel to and supply services in the Swiss market, providing certainty for our trading arrangements with a key European partner for years to come.
Economic growth is the No. 1 mission of this Government and international trade plays a key role in creating opportunities for businesses, supporting jobs and driving investment across the UK. This FTA builds on the agreements we have secured with the United States, the European Union, India, the Gulf Co-operation Council and the Republic of Korea, strengthening the UK’s position as an open, outward-looking trading nation.
Switzerland is the UK’s sixth-largest services export market, with bilateral services trade in 2025 amounting to over £30 billion. The agreement builds on this relationship, helping to support jobs across the UK—including the 171,400 already sustained by exports to Switzerland. Furthermore, Swiss-owned businesses employed around 150,000 people in the UK in 2024 and total bilateral trade reached £53 billion in 2025 and bilateral foreign direct investment stood at £87 billion at the end of 2024.
This is the most significant trade agreement for services concluded by the UK, as it includes the UK’s most ambitious digital chapter and most comprehensive business travel commitments in an FTA, along with high-ambition outcomes across services and investment. It helps reinforce the UK’s position as one of the world’s leading services exporters and will help unlock new opportunities in key industrial strategy sectors including finance, professional services, life sciences, creative industries and digital technologies.
The UK has also secured the most comprehensive digital chapter ever agreed by Switzerland in an FTA. With over 70% of UK-Swiss services trade delivered digitally, the agreement guarantees the free flow of data while maintaining existing privacy protections. It modernises the digital trading environment through commitments on electronic contracts, signatures and invoicing, prevents customs duties on electronic transmissions and has the strongest commitments to prohibit unjustified data localisation requirements.
The FTA delivers long-term business certainty for UK services firms, a key ask from stakeholders throughout the negotiations. The UK and Switzerland have agreed that future improvements to access in certain sectors are locked in. This provides UK firms with a more stable and predictable business environment, which will give them the confidence to plan and invest for the long term. The agreement also permanently secures the rights of UK lawyers to provide advisory services in foreign and international law in Switzerland without requiring requalification.