Changes

===Trade with the EU===

===Trade with the EU===

[[File:Gotthard-basistunnel02-hannes-ortlieb.jpg|thumb|left|A few inside the [[Gotthard Base Tunnel]], which opened in 2016 and is the longest tunnel in the world.]]

[[File:Gotthard-basistunnel02-hannes-ortlieb.jpg|thumb|left|A view inside the [[Gotthard Base Tunnel]], which opened in 2016 and is the longest tunnel in the world.]]

The Swiss economy earns roughly half of its corporate earnings from the export industry, and 62% of Swiss exports are destined for the [[EU]] market. The EU is Switzerland's largest trading partner, and economic and trade barriers between them are minimal. In the wake of the Swiss voters' rejection of the European Economic Area Agreement in 1992, the Swiss Government set its sights on negotiating bilateral sectoral agreements with the EU. After more than 4 years of negotiations, an agreement covering seven sectors (research, public procurement, technical barriers to trade, agriculture, civil aviation, land transport, and the free movement of persons) was achieved at the end of 1998. Parliament officially endorsed the so-called "Bilaterals I" in 1999, and the Swiss people approved them in a referendum in May 2000. The agreements, which had to be ratified by the European Parliament as well as legislatures in all 15 EU member states, entered into force on June 1, 2002. Switzerland has so far attempted to mitigate possible adverse effects of non-membership by conforming many of its regulations, standards, and practices to EU directives and norms. Full access to the Swiss market for the original 15 EU member states entered into force in June 2004, ending as a result the “national preference”. The Swiss agreed to extend these preferences to the 10 new EU members on September 25, 2005.

The Swiss economy earns roughly half of its corporate earnings from the export industry, and 62% of Swiss exports are destined for the [[EU]] market. The EU is Switzerland's largest trading partner, and economic and trade barriers between them are minimal. In the wake of the Swiss voters' rejection of the European Economic Area Agreement in 1992, the Swiss Government set its sights on negotiating bilateral sectoral agreements with the EU. After more than 4 years of negotiations, an agreement covering seven sectors (research, public procurement, technical barriers to trade, agriculture, civil aviation, land transport, and the free movement of persons) was achieved at the end of 1998. Parliament officially endorsed the so-called "Bilaterals I" in 1999, and the Swiss people approved them in a referendum in May 2000. The agreements, which had to be ratified by the European Parliament as well as legislatures in all 15 EU member states, entered into force on June 1, 2002. Switzerland has so far attempted to mitigate possible adverse effects of non-membership by conforming many of its regulations, standards, and practices to EU directives and norms. Full access to the Swiss market for the original 15 EU member states entered into force in June 2004, ending as a result the “national preference”. The Swiss agreed to extend these preferences to the 10 new EU members on September 25, 2005.