Switzerland Urged To Liberalise Markets

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

24 February 2005

Opinion is divided in Switzerland over the need to deregulate a number of the country's key 'network industries', according to the Swissinfo news service.

Reporting on a recently held workshop entitled 'Incentive Regulation in Network Industries', Swissinfo revealed that the meeting was attended by government representatives, leading businessmen, and academics.

Speaking at the workshop, chief economist with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Aymo Brunetti urged liberalisation of industries such as public transport, electricity, and to a lesser extent (as some progress towards deregulation has already been made) telecommunications.

He reportedly warned that Switzerland is "not an island", and suggested that Swiss power companies may find themselves at a disadvantage when they want to participate in cross-border ventures, unless the government is able to provide similar opportunities for EU firms in Switzerland.

However, also speaking at the workshop, Professor Matthias Finger of Lausanne's Federal Institute of Technology argued that unless proper procedures for deregulation are put in place, more harm than good could be done.

According to Swissinfo, he suggested that liberalisation of the industries currently under scrutiny will require substantial "re-regulation" after the event, including intervention to ensure security of supply and network maintenance, possibly by the offering of incentives to "encourage appropriate behaviour".

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