European Free Trade Association Totally Explained

Everything about Efta totally explained

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a European trade bloc which was established on May 3, 1960 as an alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to, join the then-European Economic Community (now the European Union).
   The EFTA Convention was signed on January 4, 1960 in Stockholm by seven states. Today only Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein remain members of EFTA (of which only Norway and Switzerland are founding members). The Stockholm Convention was subsequently replaced by the Vaduz Convention.
   This Convention provides for the liberalisation of trade among the member states. Three of the EFTA countries are part of the European Union Internal Market through the Agreement on a European Economic Area (EEA), which took effect in 1994; the fourth, Switzerland, opted to conclude bilateral agreements with the EU. In addition, the EFTA states have jointly concluded free trade agreements with a number of other countries.
   An important development was the conclusion by Switzerland in 1999 of a set of bilateral agreements with the European Union covering a wide range of areas, including movement of persons, transport and technical barriers to trade. This development prompted the EFTA States to modernise their Convention to ensure that it'll continue to provide a successful framework for the expansion and liberalization of trade among them and with the rest of the world.
   The EFTA UPDATE on June 1, 2002. The main areas in which the Convention has been modernised include: Mutual recognition of conformity assessments; Intellectual property rights; Movement of persons, social security and mutual recognition of diplomas; Investment and services; Land and air transport; Public procurement; Agriculture;

Membership history

Its original members were the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal. During the 1960s these countries were often referred to as the Outer Seven, as opposed to the Inner Six of the then-styled European Economic Community.(External Link

) Finland became an associate member in 1961 (becoming a full member in 1986), and Iceland joined in 1970. The United Kingdom and Denmark joined the European Community in 1973 (together with Ireland), and hence ceased to be EFTA members. Portugal also left EFTA for the European Community in 1986. Liechtenstein joined in 1991 (previously its interests in EFTA had been represented by Switzerland). Finally, Austria, Sweden and Finland joined the European Union in 1995 and hence ceased to be EFTA members.

Current members

State	Official name	Capital	GDP in millions (PPP)	GDP per capita (PPP)
Iceland	Republic of Iceland	Reykjavík	12,172	40,277
Liechtenstein	Principality of Liechtenstein	Vaduz	1,786	25,000
Norway	Kingdom of Norway	Oslo	257,400	55,600
Switzerland	Swiss Confederation (Confoederatio Helvetica )	Bern	296,200	38,706

General Secretaries

General Secretaries of EFTA:

1960-1965: Frank E. Figgures
1965-1972: Sir John Coulson
1972-1975: Bengt Rabaeus
1976-1981: Charles Müller
1981-1988: Per Kleppe
1988-1994: Georg Reisch
1994-2000: Kjartan Jóhannsson
2000-2006: William Rossier
2006-present: Kåre Bryn

Institutions

EFTA is governed by the EFTA Council and serviced by the EFTA Secretariat. In addition, in connection with the EEA Agreement of 1992, two other EFTA organisations were established, the EFTA Surveillance Authority and the EFTA Court.

EEA-related institutions

The EFTA Surveillance Authority and the EFTA Court regulate the activities of the EFTA members in respect of their obligations in the European Economic Area (EEA). Since Switzerland isn't an EEA member, it doesn't participate in these institutions.
The EFTA Surveillance Authority performs the European Commission's role as "guardian of the treaties" for the EFTA countries, while the EFTA Court performs the European Court of Justice's role for those countries.
The original plan for the EEA lacked the EFTA Court or the EFTA Surveillance Authority, and instead had the European Court of Justice and the European Commission were to exercise those roles. However, during the negotiations for the EEA agreement, the European Court of Justice informed the Council of the European Union by way of letter that they considered that giving the EU institutions powers with respect to non-EU member states would be a violation of the treaties, and therefore the current arrangement was developed instead.

Locations

The EFTA Secretariat is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The EFTA Surveillance Authority has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium (the same location as the headquarters of the European Commission), while the EFTA Court has its headquarters in Luxembourg (the same location as the headquarters of the European Court of Justice).

Portugal Fund

The Portugal Fund was established in 1975 when Portugal was still a member of EFTA, to provide funding for the development and reconstruction of Portugal after the end of the dictatorship. When Portugal left EFTA in 1985, the remaining EFTA members decided to nonetheless continue the Portugal Fund, so Portugal would continue to benefit from it. The Fund originally took the form of a low-interest loan from the EFTA member states to Portugal, to the value of 100 million US dollars. Repayment was originally to commence in 1988, but EFTA then decided to postpone the start of repayments until 1998. The Portugal Fund has now been dissolved by the Member States.

International conventions

EFTA also originated the Hallmarking Convention and the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention, both of which are open to non-EFTA states.

Relationship to the European Economic Area

The EFTA members, except for Switzerland, are also members of the European Economic Area (EEA).

International Relationships

EFTA has several free trade agreements with non-EU countries as well as declarations on cooperation and joint workgroups to improve trade. Currently, the EFTA States have established preferential trade relations with 20 States and Territories, in addition to the 27 Member States of the European Union. Free Trade Agreement

Canada

Chile

Croatia

Egypt

Israel

Jordan

South Korea

Lebanon

Republic of Macedonia

Mexico

Morocco

Palestinian National Authority

Singapore

Southern African Customs Union (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa)

Tunisia

Turkey Currently negotiating with Thailand and the Gulf Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) Declarations on Cooperation

Albania

Algeria

Colombia

Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay)

Peru

Serbia

Ukraine Joint workgroups

India

Indonesia Trade News

8 May 2008 EFTA and Algeria hold 3rd round of free trade negotiations

5 May 2008 Free Trade Agreement between EFTA and SACU

24 April 2008 EFTA and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) Finalize Free Trade Negotiations

Future of EFTA

Norwegians have rejected in referendums to join the EU on two occasions. At the time of the first referendum (1972) their neighbours the Kingdom of Denmark joined. The second time (1994) two other Nordic neighbours, Sweden and Finland joined the EU. The two last governments of Norway have been unable and unwilling to advance the question, as they've both been coalition governments consisting of both proponents and opponents.
   Iceland isn't likely to join the EU in the near future due to political indifference towards the Union.
   Since Switzerland rejected the EEA in 1992, referendums on EU membership have been initiated, the last time in 2001. These were rejected by clear majorities.
   In mid-2005, representatives of the Faroe Islands have hinted at the possibility of their territory joining EFTA. However, the chances of the Faroes' bid for membership are uncertain because, according to the EFTA Convention, only states may become members of the Association.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom benefited from the lack of common tariffs for EFTA members, by importing goods from the Commonwealth of Nations and selling them on to other EFTA members. Due to the advancement of the EEC and the decision to focus on Europe, rather than the United States and Commonwealth nations such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand, as trading partners, the United Kingdom chose to apply for EEC membership in 1961 (however, it didn't become a member until 1973).

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