UK and Switzerland strike services deal to boost exports by £5.2bn

The UK and Switzerland concluded negotiations on an enhanced free trade agreement on Monday. The deal will lift British services exports to Switzerland by £5.2 billion a year in the long run, the government says. The package also sets out practical changes for travellers, including access to Swiss e-gates and the intention to scrap roaming charges on mobile phones.

Swiss e-gates are set to open first at Zurich Airport, as soon as the end of 2026, before rolling out to Basel and Geneva. For the 800,000 annual UK visits to Switzerland, that means faster passport control and fewer queues for business travellers, workers and holidaymakers, while the roaming pledge would let Britons use their regular phone contracts without extra fees across the border.

Switzerland is already the UK’s sixth largest services export market, with bilateral services trade topping £30 billion in 2025. Total bilateral trade reached £53 billion that year, and bilateral foreign direct investment stood at £87 billion at the end of 2024. The government says exports to Switzerland already sustain 171,400 UK jobs, while Swiss-owned businesses employed around 150,000 people in the UK in 2024.

The new deal builds on the existing trade framework between the two countries, which came into force on 31 December 2020 and was based on the wider 1972 EU-Switzerland arrangement. The broader post-Brexit relationship has already depended on a separate services mobility agreement, which took effect on 1 January 2021 and allowed UK professionals to work in Switzerland for up to 90 days without a work permit. That arrangement was extended in October 2025 until 31 December 2029 while negotiators worked on a permanent settlement.

Over 70% of UK-Swiss services trade is delivered digitally. The deal protects the free flow of data while keeping existing privacy safeguards, modernises electronic contracts, signatures and invoicing, blocks customs duties on electronic transmissions and pushes back against unjustified data localisation rules.

Negotiators held a tenth round in Geneva from 9 to 13 March 2026, following earlier rounds in 2025 and 2026. The final text will deepen access in finance, professional services, life sciences, creative industries and digital technologies.