Importing From India to EFTA Countries

Swiss import records show US$205.8 million of woven apparel arriving from India in 2025. India's own export records show just US$15.1 million shipped to Switzerland in the same year. That's a gap of 13.6 times, and it isn't a data error (our mirror-trade analysis, 2026). It's the sound of Swiss buyers getting Indian clothes through distributors in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, who clear the goods into the EU first and pass them on with a margin.

That was a reasonable way to buy before October 2025. Since then Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein have had their own agreement with India, and it has one feature no other Indian agreement has - the Indian exporter can sign its own certificate of origin. This page explains what the agreement opened, what it didn't need to, and how the self-declared certificate works. One honest caveat - we haven't extracted per-line rates for each country, so you'll check your own line in the schedule we link.

Last researched 28 September 2026 · Next review 24 November 2026 · Written by SourcingFrom

The decision in brief is in the playbook: Exporting and trade → /india/#trade. This is the bloc page. The EU is a different customs territory with a different status, see the EU page.

1. In Force Since 1 October 2025, for All Four at Once

The India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) was signed in New Delhi on 10 March 2024 and entered into force on 1 October 2025 (PIB, 30 September 2025 (opens in a new tab)). There's no separate date per country. Under Article 14.7 it starts for everyone on the first day of the third month after India and every EFTA state have deposited their instruments with Norway (TEPA main text (opens in a new tab)).

Liechtenstein has no goods schedule of its own. Under Article 1.3(2), Switzerland represents it in matters covered by their customs union of 1923, so a Liechtenstein buyer follows the Swiss schedule (same text).

2. What It Opened, and What Was Already Free

EFTA's offer covers 92.2% of its tariff lines and 99.6% of India's exports, including every non-agricultural product (PIB, 30 September 2025 (opens in a new tab)). Sounds huge, and for some goods it is. But here's the part most summaries skip - leather, footwear, gems and jewellery were already at 0% MFN in EFTA before TEPA. For those, the agreement locks in the zero rather than creating it.

The real openings are in food. The same release names coffee at 0% on every line, Swiss duties on food preparations, fresh grapes, nuts, seeds and fresh vegetables eliminated, Norwegian duty-free lines for food preparations and condiments, and Icelandic cuts on processed food, chocolate and confectionery, and frozen and prepared shrimp, squid and cuttlefish. If you import Indian spice blends, snacks or seafood into any of these four, TEPA is worth real money to you.

Not every line drops at once. Each country's schedule gives a staging category for every tariff line, so check yours in the schedule for Iceland (opens in a new tab), Norway (opens in a new tab) or Switzerland (opens in a new tab) before you price.

3. The Origin Rule

A product qualifies if it's wholly obtained in India, or if it meets the product-specific rule for its HS line in Appendix 1 of Annex 2.A. Non-originating materials that fail the rule are forgiven up to 10% of the FOB value or ex-works price (Annex 2.A, Article 4 (opens in a new tab)).

For apparel, the rule will usually turn on where the fabric came from. So if you're buying garments, ask in the RFQ whether the fabric is Indian, and get it in writing. It's the question that decides whether you get the preference, and a supplier that can't answer it quickly probably hasn't had to before.

4. The Indian Exporter May Sign Its Own Certificate

This is what makes TEPA different. Article 13 of Annex 2.A allows two proofs for goods leaving India - a certificate issued by one of India's authorised agencies, or a self-declared certificate issued by the Indian exporter (Annex 2.A, Article 13 (opens in a new tab)). India changed its Handbook of Procedures to allow it, and the certificates are issued electronically on DGFT's platform from 1 October 2025, signed with the exporter's digital signature (KNN India, DGFT self-declaration (opens in a new tab)).

Either kind is valid for 12 months. It has to be issued within five working days of export, or retrospectively for up to a year, marked "ISSUED RETROSPECTIVELY". Box 5 shows the origin criterion - WO, PSR or cumulation (Appendix 2.A.3 (opens in a new tab)). The other two proofs in the agreement, the approved exporter's declaration and the EUR.1, are for goods going the other way, from EFTA into India.

So what does that mean for you? A self-declared certificate is faster, but the origin liability rests on the exporter's signature, and your preference rests on it too. We like the option, and we'd still treat it carefully on a first order. Ask which of the two the supplier will use, and ask for the bill of materials it signs against. If it's a trader rather than the maker, ask whose records stand behind the declaration. That isn't suspicion, it's the question customs will ask you if they ever verify.

5. Back to the Swiss Gap

Remember the US$190 million or so of Indian woven apparel that reaches Swiss buyers without India recording it as going to Switzerland? Those buyers aren't losing duty by going through an EU distributor. Switzerland abolished its industrial tariffs for goods from every country on 1 January 2024, so Indian apparel was already at zero Swiss duty before TEPA started, direct or not (BAZG, abolition of industrial tariffs (opens in a new tab)).

The saving from buying direct is the distributor's margin, not duty. That's a real number, but buying direct means doing the export paperwork, the shipping and the checks yourself, and that's real work. The gap shows how much of the market hasn't tried it yet. Where TEPA itself pays a Swiss buyer is food, which is why section 2 matters more than this one.

6. Your Country's Page

VAT, labelling language and entry points are on each member page - Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Next Step

Open your member page above. Every Indian agreement, with who signs the proof under each, is on India's trade agreements.