CH-NE
1 State - People - Authorities - 10 Constitution and Other Fundamental Acts - Section 1: General Provisions (IVTH)
Table of Provisions (13)
Statutory Text (13 Articles)
1. This inter-cantonal agreement is concluded to eliminate technical barriers to trade that persist between Switzerland and foreign countries or between the cantons.
2. The agreement regulates
a. cooperation between the cantons;
b. the organization of the inter-cantonal authority for technical barriers to trade (the inter-cantonal authority), as well as its tasks and competencies;
c. the financing of the activities of the inter-cantonal authority.
For the purposes of this agreement, the following terms shall mean
a. Technical barriers to trade: barriers to cross-border trade of products that arise from the divergence of technical regulations or standards, the divergent application of such regulations or standards, or the non-recognition notably of testing, conformity assessments, registrations, or approvals [2];
b. Technical regulations: legal rules setting requirements, the fulfillment of which constitutes a condition for the offer, the placing on the market, the commissioning, the use, or the disposal of a product, and which relate in particular to
1. the composition, characteristics, packaging, labeling, or sign of conformity of products,
2. the production, transportation, or storage of products,
3. testing, conformity assessment, registration, approval, or the procedure for obtaining the sign of conformity [3];
c. Technical standards: rules, guidelines, or characteristics without legal force, established by ad hoc organizations and concerning particularly the manufacturing, composition, characteristics, packaging, and labeling of products, as well as the examination or assessment of conformity [4].
1. For the execution of this agreement, an inter-cantonal authority for technical barriers to trade shall be established. It shall adopt its own organizational regulations.
2. Each cantonal government of the cantons participating in the agreement shall delegate one of its members to this inter-cantonal authority.
3. For the preparation and execution of its decisions, the inter-cantonal authority may appoint
c. permanent or intermittent expert commissions.
4. The inter-cantonal authority shall define the tasks and competencies of these bodies in organizational regulations.
The inter-cantonal authority is specifically competent to
a. issue regulations concerning the requirements for structures (art. 6);
b. issue guidelines for the implementation of regulations on the placing of products on the market (art. 7 and 8);
c. issue regulations concerning the placing of products on the market (art. 9);
d. coordinate its activities with those of the Confederation.
1. The inter-cantonal authority makes its decisions by a majority of 18 votes.
2. Each canton party to the agreement has one vote.
3. The details are regulated in the organizational rules of the inter-cantonal authority.
1. To the extent that they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Confederation, the intercantonal authority issues guidelines on the requirements for structures that are necessary to eliminate technical barriers to trade.
2. It considers harmonized international standards. However, it may take into account possible differences in geographical or climatic conditions or lifestyle, as well as possible differences in the level of protection existing between the cantons and municipalities.
3. These prescriptions are mandatory for the cantons.
4. Cantonal and municipal regulations regarding landscape, heritage, and monument protection remain reserved.
1. Upon request from a canton or the Bureau, the inter-cantonal authority issues guidelines aimed at harmonizing the implementation of regulations concerning the placing of products on the market, insofar as the Confederation has entrusted this implementation to the cantons.
2. These guidelines are mandatory for the cantons.
1 The inter-cantonal authority may issue implementation guidelines in the area of the placing on the market of construction products, particularly concerning
a. products that play only a minor role in terms of health and safety [5];
b. products that are intended for a specific single application [6].
2. These implementation guidelines are mandatory for the cantons.
1. The inter-cantonal authority shall issue regulations concerning the marketing of products insofar as they do not fall within the competence of the Confederation or if the Confederation has not issued regulations in this area, and insofar as they are necessary to eliminate technical barriers to trade between the cantons or between the cantons and foreign countries.
2. It may designate internationally harmonized technical standards.
3. These regulations are mandatory for the cantons.
The costs associated with the activities of the inter-cantonal authority, its secretariat, and expert commissions shall be allocated among the cantons party to this agreement according to their population.
The cantons ensure the publication of the prescriptions and directives established by the international authority according to their own rules.
1. Membership to this agreement or its denunciation must be declared to the inter-cantonal authority, which will inform the Confederation.
2. Until the agreement comes into force, these communications must be made to the Conference of Cantonal Governments.
3. The denunciation becomes effective at the end of the third calendar year following it.
The present agreement shall enter into force as soon as at least eighteen cantons have acceded to it and it has been published in the Official Compilation of Federal Laws; for cantons that accede at a later date, the agreement shall enter into force upon the publication of their accession in the Official Compilation of Federal Laws.
Adopted by the Conference of Cantonal Governments in Bern, on October 23, 1998.
Accessions
| Canton | Date of Accession | Entry into Force |
|-------------------------------|-------------------|------------------|
| Zurich | 23.11.2001 | 04.02.2003 |
| Bern | 13.09.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| Lucerne | 17.01.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| Uri | 01.10.2002 | 04.02.2003 |
| Schwyz | 16.08.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| Obwald | 27.10.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| Glarus | 07.05.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| Zug | 10.04.2001 | 04.02.2003 |
| Fribourg | 01.01.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| Solothurn | 05.03.2001 | 04.02.2003 |
| Basel-Stadt | 07.06.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| Basel-Landschaft | 26.06.2001 | 04.02.2003 |
| Schaffhausen | 03.04.2001 | 04.02.2003 |
| Appenzell Innerrhoden | 28.02.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| St. Gallen | 11.01.2001 | 04.02.2003 |
| Grisons | 23.05.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| Aargau | 27.06.2000 | 04.02.2003 |
| Ticino | 05.11.2001 | 04.02.2003 |
| Geneva | 25.07.2001 | 04.02.2003 |
| Neuchâtel | 07.01.2003 | 08.04.2003 |