Brussels, 25/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Commission and Switzerland initialled nine new bilateral agreements which have been negotiated in recent years. Following the announcement of postponement of the date of entry into force of the saving tax directive (postponed until July 2005 at the earliest, see EUROPE of 24 June), the Commission's attempt to block the nine agreements to apply pressure on Switzerland no longer made sense.
The nine agreements cover (a) Taxation of Savings income, focussing on a retention levied by Swiss paying agents on interest payments to EU residents, and exchange of information on request in cases of 'tax fraud or the like'; (b) Fight against Fraud: Full judicial co operation and administrative assistance will be granted mutually, to prevent, investigate and prosecute fraud cases, smuggling and money laundering; (c) Schengen, to facilitate the free movement of EU and Swiss citizens and will have an important effect on the lives of trans-border workers. It also means that the fight against terrorism and crime will be further reinforced; (d) Dublin Convention: Switzerland will participate in EU policy on determining the responsibility for asylum applications. Eurodac: Switzerland will participate in the EU electronic system for the identification of asylum-seekers; (e) Processed agricultural products, for which bilateral preferential concessions were agreed following enlargement, but it has not yet been decided whether these should apply retroactively as from 1 May 2004; (f) Environment: Swiss policy-makers will benefit from targeted and reliable information provided by the European Environment Agency to promote sustainable development; (g) Statistics: Switzerland will participate in the European Statistical System, enjoying the benefits of compatible data in a wide range of areas; (h) Media: This agreement establishes the terms and conditions under which Switzerland could participate in the EU Media programme; (i) Double Taxation: An agreement to prevent double taxation of EU civil servants who have retired in Switzerland.