Unilateral statement following the meeting of the UK-Swiss Joint Committee on Citizens’ Rights

The first meeting of the UK-Swiss Joint Committee on Citizens’ Rights was held today, chaired by officials from the Swiss confederation. The Committee has been established by the UK-Swiss Citizens Rights Agreement to monitor the implementation and application of the Agreement, which protects the rights of UK nationals in Switzerland and Swiss citizens in the UK before the end of the transition period.

The UK and Switzerland exchanged updates on implementation and application of the Agreement. This included residence systems, frontier worker systems, social security coordination, mutual recognition of professional qualifications and service provision. The UK and Switzerland share the priority of implementing and applying the Agreement correctly and reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate closely for the benefit of the UK nationals and Swiss citizens it protects. The Joint Committee also took a decision to set the date from which social security coordination provisions in the Agreement extended to EU citizens as 1 January 2021.

The UK and Switzerland have agreed to meet again in 2022 and both parties will maintain a close dialogue on implementation and application until then. The UK and Switzerland reiterated their commitment in ensuring the correct implementation and application of the Citizens’ Rights Agreement and stressed the importance of upholding citizens’ rights.