News

The UN sanctions committee has amended the list of sanctioned individuals, companies and organizations. The SESAM database has been updated accordingly.On 4 March 2016 the Federal Council has adopted the Ordinance on the automatic application of the UN Security Council’s sanctions lists. Hence, the amendments of the UN Security Council’s sanctions lists enter into force in Switzerland without delay.

The US is applying a tariff ceiling of 15% on imports from Switzerland. This applies retroactively from 14 November 2025. In return, Switzerland will reduce import tariffs on certain fish and agricultural products from the USA. The basis for this is the joint statement published on 14 November between Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the USA.

Discours de M. le Conseiller fédéral Guy Parmelin, Chef du Département fédéral de l’économie, de la formation et de la recherche (DEFR) à l’occasion de l’élection à la présidence de la Confédération 2026

The Swiss Confederation issued a bond by auction on 10.12.2025: 1.25%, maturity 28.06.2043 (reopening). The issuance volume (excluding own holdings) amounts to a total of 195.250 million francs.

Talks are taking place on 11 December in Vienna between the Swiss and Austrian defence ministries. The purpose of this dialogue is to strengthen bilateral cooperation on security policy. The discussions will focus on current developments in Europe and transatlantic relations.

The Federal Tax Administration FTA will be closed on the afternoons of December 24 and 31, 2025 and all day on December 25 and 26, 2025 and January 1 and 2, 2026. Due to planned maintenance work, the FTA services in the ePortal will not be available from December 30, 2025 8.00 pm to January 1, 2026 8.00 am.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, have for the first time succeeded in using existing laser technology to continuously vary the magnetic properties of two-dimensional materials. This simple and fast method should make a large number of applications possible, including techniques for data storage and processing.

Microtubules perform an active role in communication within the cell by transmitting received signals to the cell's functional units. Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel have now, for the first time, structurally elucidated how these protein strands of the cytoskeleton accomplish this. Their findings could help make it possible to intervene in this communication and, for example, prevent tumour growth. The study was published in the scientific journal Cell.

Reliable knowledge is an essential public good for science and the future prosperity of our society. Research libraries play a central role here. How can these infrastructures be strengthened in the face of current developments in the fields of automation, big data, and artificial intelligence?

On 8 December 2025 the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER has amended annex 2 of the ordinance instituting measures in relation to Sudan. One natural person was newly added to the annex. Technical corrections were made to two entries. The measures come into force on 9 December 2025 at 23:00.

To date, CO₂ emissions in urban areas were typically monitored using emissions inventories. In the city of Zurich, they can now also be determined reliably based on atmospheric measurements. As part of the Europe-wide research project ICOS Cities, Empa researchers tested this new approach and achieved results that were very close to the values calculated beforehand.

Market sector activities across the Swiss economy posted negative results in the 3rd quarter 2025. Turnover fell by 1.4% compared with the same quarter of the previous year and employment in these same market sectors fell by 0.2% (total employment +0.1%). These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).