Swiss Made – New rules under the Swissness stipulation
Those who find labels on their product that say “Swiss Made” or “Made in Switzerland”, usually associate this designation with a large probability of superior quality.
Swiss Made
Differing federal bodies have recently debated the so-called Swissness stipulation. An important discussion in the greater debate was about how much of a product must truly be produced in Switzerland in order to obtain the right to label itself as such. The goal of the stipulation was to improve the protection of the Swiss identity can cross as a label. This is done through the federal law on protection of brands and provenance information(Markenschutzgesetz, MSchG). Additionally, there is another federal law protecting the Swiss national coat-of-arms and other official symbols (Wappenschutzgesetz, WSchG).
60% Swiss in the case of industrial products
In order for a industrial product to be considered a Swiss product, at least 60% of the manufacturing costs must be incurred in Switzerland. For example, a watch must meet this requirement before it can be labeled as Swiss Made.
Animal products follow far stricter regulations. Animal products are only considers ‘Swiss Made’ when the animal was raised in Switzerland. With milk products, the milk must come 100% from within Switzerland. With other food products, the general rule is that at least 80% of the raw material by weight must be Swiss in origin. There are, however, a few notable exceptions for raw material that are non-existent or not readily available in Switzerland.
