Federal policy from the commodity report of 2013 to the statistics mandate of 2023

The basic report of 2013

Until the early 2010s the Swiss commodity sector was hardly the subject of federal policy. It was regulated by general company, tax and contract law and, for the gold refiners, by the precious metals legislation. Public criticism changed this. In 2011 the non-governmental organization Erklärung von Bern, later renamed Public Eye, published a book on commodity trading as Switzerland's most dangerous business, and parliamentary interventions asked the Federal Council to assess the sector's risks.¹ On 27 March 2013 the Federal Council took note of the Grundlagenbericht Rohstoffe (basic report on commodities), prepared by an interdepartmental platform of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Federal Department of Finance and the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research.² The report estimated that nearly 500 companies with about 10,000 employees were active in commodity trading and that the commodity cluster contributed about 3.5 per cent of Swiss GDP. It attributed Switzerland's position to the long tradition of the sector, stable framework conditions, competitive taxation, a well-educated workforce and an advanced financial system.³

The report acknowledged problems concerning human rights, the environment, the fight against corruption and the phenomenon of the "resource curse" in producing countries.⁴ Its seventeen recommendations covered the maintenance of attractive framework conditions, the implementation of international standards, the analysis of the IOSCO principles for commodity derivatives markets and the monitoring of illicit financial flows. Further recommendations concerned support for the OECD's work on base erosion and profit shifting, engagement in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an assessment of transparency provisions, the promotion of responsible business conduct, a review of due diligence obligations of board members, development cooperation, tax information agreements, the monitoring of reputation risks, the continuation of the dialogue with stakeholders and the continuation of the interdepartmental platform.⁵ The interdepartmental platform presented three reports on the state of implementation, in 2014, 2015 and 2016, which recorded progress on these points.⁶

The transparency report of 2014 and the report of 2018

In May 2014 the Federal Department of Justice and Police published a report on Recommendation 8 of the basic report and on a parliamentary postulate calling for more transparency in the commodity sector. It cited market shares of Swiss traders of 35 per cent for crude oil, 60 per cent for metals, 35 per cent for grain, 56 per cent for coffee and 50 per cent for sugar, and named Vitol, Glencore-Xstrata, Trafigura, Mercuria, Gunvor, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus among the leading firms.⁷ The report prepared the transparency rules for extractive companies that were later adopted in the revision of company law.

On 30 November 2018 the Federal Council adopted the report Rohstoffsektor Schweiz: Standortbestimmung und Perspektiven (the Swiss commodity sector: current position and perspectives). It estimated the number of trading firms at about 500, put merchanting receipts at more than CHF 25 billion or about 3.8 per cent of GDP in 2017 and counted about 24,000 employees in the 150 firms that reported to the SNB's balance of payments survey and were active, among other things, in transit trade.⁸ It mentioned Ticino as a hub beside Geneva and Zug and noted the importance of the sector for the tax revenue of these cantons. Its sixteen new recommendations were grouped under three headings: strengthening competitiveness and innovation, strengthening integrity and sustainability, and strengthening the framework for analysis, dialogue and coordination.⁹ On 28 November 2018 the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and SECO published, together with the London-based Institute for Human Rights and Business, a guidance on implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the commodity trading sector. It was described as the first document of its kind worldwide and prepared after consultation with NGOs, the private sector and the cantonal authorities of Geneva.¹⁰

Notes

1. Haller, "Transithandel" (above) (Erklärung von Bern/Public Eye, Rohstoff. Das gefährlichste Geschäft der Schweiz, 2011). ↩
2. Plattform Rohstoffe, Berichterstattung zum Stand der Umsetzung der Empfehlungen (26 March 2014, above) ("Am 27. März 2013 hat der Bundesrat den Grundlagenbericht Rohstoffe zur Kenntnis genommen"). ↩
3. EDA, EFD and WBF, Grundlagenbericht Rohstoffe (27 March 2013, above) ("Gemäss Schätzungen sind gegen 500 Unternehmen und rund 10'000 Mitarbeitende im Rohstoffhandelsgeschäft tätig"; "Der Rohstoffcluster trägt rund 3,5% zum Schweizer BIP bei"). ↩
4. Haller, "Transithandel" (above), quoting the report of 2013 on problems regarding "Menschenrechte, der Umweltsituation, der Korruptionsbekämpfung sowie des Phänomens des 'Rohstoff-Fluchs'". ↩
5. EDA, EFD and WBF, Grundlagenbericht Rohstoffe (above), list of recommendations 1–17. ↩
6. Plattform Rohstoffe, report of 26 March 2014 (above); Federal Council, Rohstoffsektor Schweiz (30 November 2018, above), p. 7 (the interdepartmental platform "drei Berichterstattungen zum Stand der Umsetzung der Empfehlungen vorgelegt (2014, 2015, 2016)"). ↩
7. Federal Department of Justice and Police / Federal Office of Justice, Bericht in Erfüllung der Empfehlung 8 des «Grundlagenberichts Rohstoffe» und des Postulats 13.3365 «Mehr Transparenz im Schweizer Rohstoffsektor» (16 May 2014), https://www.newsd.admin.ch/newsd/message/attachments/80183.pdf. ↩
8. Federal Council, Rohstoffsektor Schweiz (30 November 2018, above) ("Die Zahl der Beschäftigten von im Rahmen der Umfrage zur Zahlungsbilanz der SNB meldepflichtigen Unternehmen, die – unter anderem – im Transithandel tätig sind (150 Unternehmen), belief sich 2016 auf rund 24 000 Personen"). ↩
9. Federal Council, Rohstoffsektor Schweiz (above). ↩
10. Federal Council, "Best practice guide for the commodity trading sector", press release, 29 November 2018, https://www.admin.ch/en/nsb?id=73145. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of אוגוסט 2025.