Global Trade Alert

On 6 November 2013, the Federal Council passed a new law on the quota allocation of slaughtered animals. According to the current quota regime, all quanties are allocated via an auctioning mechanism. Even though the quota is restrictive in trade, the distribution mechanism is fair and does not discriminate between different importers and domestic firms.
 

From 1 January 2015, 40 percent of the quota will be passed directly to domestic slaughterhouses. Between these companies, the quantity will be distributed based on the amount of slaughtered beef, goat, horse and sheep.
 

This new regulation restricts competition because it gives a preferential access to established domestic slaughterhouses and thereby restricts the foreign meat production. Even though the overall quota level is untouched, this measure indirectly shrinks the import of meat (slaughtered animals). The quota for foreign companies and therefore their the potential meat import decreases to 60 percent of the initial value.
 
It is also very likely that this measure will increase the auctioning price and further deteriorate the situation for meat importers with respect to swiss producers.