中文 / भारतीय फोकस
MAIPA Focus
MAIPA is an international network of law firms and individual lawyers with an outstanding professional track record in business law.
MAIPA lawyers provide specialized legal advice and representation to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual entrepreneurs from India and China wishing to expand their commercial activities via Switzerland to the European Union and beyond.
MAIPA offers legal services in the areas of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), Intellectual Property (copyright, trademarks, patents, design, and unfair competition), and Arbitration (dispute settlement, mediation, and representation in litigation).
MAIPA lawyers share in common highly recognized professional experience in international and regional trade law, business law, competition law, and investment law.
MAIPA's networked expertise in international trade regulation, competition, and investment law benefits its client base in complex cross-border transactions to perform successful mergers & acquisitions, intellectual property protection, and arbitration.
MAIPA enables Indian and Chinese SMEs to take full advantage of relevant free trade agreements (FTA) to access foreign markets, maximize their intellectual property assets on the international stage, and effectively enforce their rights when needed.
MAIPA Eurasian Trade & Investment Law with a Global Reach
The MAIPA network of international and local lawyers delivers to Indian and Chinese Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) tailor-made legal services in Switzerland, the European Union, and beyond.
MAIPA offers legal services in mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, and arbitration that include complex transaction-related due diligence and negotiations of asset deals, share purchase agreements (SPA), and related commercial undertakings to access new markets.
MAIPA law firms are committed to being responsive to their clients' needs and commercial ambitions having a transnational reach.
MAIPA is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and incorporated as an association (Verein) under Swiss law. Find more information on the MAIPA law firms under the "Network" section of this website.
MAIPA offers a Swiss access to the European Union
MAIPA's center of gravity is Switzerland with a solid network presence in the European Union, the Americas, and North Africa.
Switzerland is the perfect hub and bridge head for Indian and Chinese SMEs to do business in the European Union and beyond when it comes to expanding successful commercial activities on the international stage.
A significant number of SMEs in Switzerland and the European Union, run by families, started in recent years to plan the succession of owners and management. These companies offer Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs attractive new business opportunities for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and for expanding portfolios in intellectual property (IP).
Switzerland and China have concluded a free trade agreement (FTA) on 6 July 2013, providing new market-opening opportunities. The Sino-Swiss FTA was China's first free trade agreement with one of the world's top 20 economies and the first one with a continental European country. It complements the free trade agreement between Hong Kong and Switzerland in force since 1 October 2012. These FTAs contribute to facilitating bilateral trade between China and Switzerland offering China a gateway to the European Union.
The FTA between China and Switzerland improves mutual market access for goods and services and enhances legal security for the protection of intellectual property rights and bilateral economic relations in general. For the vast majority of bilateral trade, the FTA dismantles tariffs fully or partially, immediately or depending on transition periods, after 5, 10, 12, or in specific cases 15 years.
In the area of technical barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, sector-specific cooperation agreements aim at reducing non-tariff barriers to trade. For trade in services, more precisely defined rules compared to the GATS of the WTO apply, e.g. for approval processes, as well as improved market access commitments for various services.
Regarding intellectual property, the level of protection in selected areas was improved compared to the multilateral standards of the WTO, including in the area of enforcement. Furthermore, the FTA covers rules of origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, trade remedies, investment protection, transparency in government procurement, trade-related environmental and labour issues, and economic and technical cooperation
Indian and Chinese SMEs can combine the advantages of the Sino-Swiss FTA with those of Switzerland's free trade and mutual recognition agreements with the EU and EFTA and with any of Switzerland's 27 free trade agreements with 38 other countries. Switzerland can serve as China's avenue to all these markets, provided applicable rules of origins are complied with.
On 4 September 2024, the Swiss federal government adopted a message to the parliament (dispatch) on the free trade agreement between the EFTA states and India. The agreement strengthens the competitiveness of Swiss exports in the world's most populous country, and vice versa. The Swiss parliament is expected to debate the federal government’s communication and proposals at the beginning of 2025.
Switzerland is expected to ratify the FTA by 2025 at the latest. To this end, the agreement must first be approved by the Swiss parliament. In the absence of an optional referendum and taking into account the processes in India, the FTA is expected to enter into force in autumn 2025.
The successful conclusion of a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Free Trade Association EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) and India is a significant milestone in Swiss trade policy. In its dispatch, the Federal Council commends and sets out the content of the agreement and places it in the overall context of Switzerland's relations with India.
India is now the world's most populous country. In particular, the growing middle class means that there is significant potential for growth. However, India still levies very high import duties on most products.
After 16 years of negotiations, Switzerland and the other EFTA states have succeeded in becoming the first European partners to conclude an FTA with India. When the agreement comes into force, 94.7 percent of Switzerland's current exports to India will enjoy tariff relief, in some cases with transitional periods. This will strengthen the competitiveness of Swiss exports in India as well as Indian exports to Switzerland and the European Union.
The agreement includes a chapter on investment promotion and cooperation. For the first time in a free trade agreement, the EFTA states are committing themselves to various promotional activities with the aim of increasing investment in India and thereby creating jobs. India, for its part, is endeavouring to ensure a favourable investment climate.
EFTA is also the first partner with which India has agreed to a comprehensive and legally binding chapter on trade and sustainable development. This chapter includes, among other things, a commitment not to deviate from applicable environmental and labour standards. It also establishes a specific sub-committee on trade and sustainable development.
MAIPA for Indian SMEs business in the EU
India is one of Switzerland's principal partners in Asia. Regular high-level meetings and visits have strengthened relations between the two countries.
Switzerland and India have signed numerous bilateral agreements covering a range of areas (trade, development cooperation, education and vocational training, visas, migration, air traffic, investment, finance, taxation, and scientific and technological cooperation).
Switzerland maintains an extensive network of representations throughout India to facilitate access to the various services it provides for Indian and Swiss nationals, companies, academic partners, and cultural actors.
Although at a relatively low level, the bilateral trade volume between India and Switzerland has grown continuously over the last twenty years. In recent years this growth has mainly been in favor of Indian goods imports into Switzerland.
On 10 March 2024, the EFTA states (Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) signed a free trade agreement (hereinafter: FTA) with India in Delhi (officially: Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement, TEPA).
The FTA is comprehensive in terms of sectors. It contains provisions on trade in industrial goods, agricultural products, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), rules of origin, trade facilitation, trade in services, the protection of intellectual property, dispute settlement and trade and sustainable development.
On 8 May 2021, the EU and Indian leaders’ agreed to resume negotiations for a “balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial” trade agreement, and to launch separate negotiations on an investment protection agreement and an agreement on geographical indications (GIs).
Both sides are now engaged in bilateral negotiations on trade, investment protection, and geographical indications. A Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) is being conducted to examine the potential impacts of future agreements.
The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for €124 billion worth of trade in goods in 2023 or 12.2% of total Indian trade, topping the USA (10.8%) and China (10.5%). The EU is the second-largest destination for Indian exports (17.5% of the total) after the USA (17.6%), while China only ranks fourth (3.7%).
India is the EU’s 9th largest trading partner, accounting for 2.2% of the EU's total trade in goods in 2023, well behind the USA (16.7%), China (14.6%), or the UK (10.1%). Trade in goods between the EU and India has increased by almost 90% in the last decade
The trade agreement with the EU would help India in further expanding and diversifying its exports of goods and services, including securing the value chains. Both sides are aiming for the trade negotiations to be broad-based, balanced, and comprehensive, based on the principles of fairness and reciprocity.
India is the world's largest democracy and an important like-minded partner. It is centrally located in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region. India is also the fastest-growing emerging economy. There is a huge and dynamic market. India's annual projected GDP growth rate is over 8 percent, according to the IMF. In terms of trade, India is the EUs 10th largest trading partner. Similarly, the EU is India's third largest trading partner.
Nearly 6,000 European companies are present in India. These companies provide 1.7 million jobs directly and 5 million jobs indirectly in a broad range of sectors.
FTAs with 'like-minded' economies, including G7 members, will enable India to diversify sourcing, increase exports, and align to new standards and regulations in global finance, clean energy, digital trade, and supply chains. These new agreements will secure ‘win-win’ outcomes for India, both politically and economically.
MAIPA Chinese SMEs for business in the EU
The European Union and China are two of the biggest traders in the world. China is now the EU's second-biggest trading partner behind the United States, and the EU is China's biggest trading partner.
The Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) concluded in 2020 between the EU and China offers new business opportunities in terms of market access and investment. CAI provides increased legal certainty, fairer rules of engagement, and improved market access in the key global market for European companies, investors, and service providers. China offers new market openings, consisting of lifting current restrictions on joint venture requirements, economic needs tests, foreign investment bans, or monopoly rights.
Free trade between India and China
In September 2024, India’s commerce and industry minister ruled out the idea of joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, maintaining that it is not in the country’s interest to be part of a free trade agreement with China.
“India is not going to join the RCEP because neither did it reflect the guiding principles on which ASEAN was started, nor is it in the nation’s interest to do a free trade agreement with China,” India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal told CNBC’s Tanvir Gill in an interview.
The RCEP deal was signed in 2020 by 15 Asia-Pacific countries — which make up 30% of global GDP — and came into force in January 2022. The countries are the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and five of their largest trading partners, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
Negotiations for the RCEP started in 2013 and initially included India, which some members viewed as a counterbalance to China. However, in 2019, India chose not to join RCEP, citing unresolved “core interest” issues. Back then, India did not expand on what some of those core unresolved interests were.
Indian Companies tend to have their existence in Shanghai and Beijing. Some prominent companies include Infosys, Wipro, Aurobindo Pharma, etc. According to the information available in Embassy of India, around 100 Chinese companies have their operations in India.