Staatliche Beihilfen in den Rechtsbeziehungen der Schweiz und der Europäischen Union

Switzerland has committed itself under international law to regulations concerning the granting of subsidies and state aid. This concerns, on the one hand, regulations within the framework of the WTO and, on the other hand, regulations in the bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the EU. These obligations under international law are in tension with the lack of an explicit regulation of this matter in the Swiss legal system and raise unresolved questions about the consequences. This paper examines the scope of these obligations under international law and, in particular, the implications for selected aspects of the Swiss electricity industry. After a presentation of WTO subsidy law and EU state aid law, the paper focuses on the significance of these regulations for Switzerland. Author: Jean-François Mayoraz.