Norway Eea Agreement

In 1992, the then seven EFTA members negotiated an agreement enabling them to participate in the European Community`s ambitious internal market project, launched in 1985 and concluded at the end of 1992. The Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) was signed on 2 May 1992 and entered into force on 1 January 1994. The EEA goes beyond traditional free trade agreements by extending all rights and obligations of the EU`s internal market to EEA-EFTA countries (with the exception of Switzerland). The EEA comprises the four freedoms of the internal market (free movement of goods, persons, services and capital) and related policies (competition, transport, energy and economic and monetary cooperation). The agreement covers horizontal policies closely linked to the four freedoms: social policy (including health and safety at work, labour law and equal treatment for men and women); policies in the areas of consumer protection, the environment, statistics and company law; and a number of accompanying policies, e.B. in the field of research and technological development, which are not based on the EU acquis or binding legal acts, but which are implemented through cooperation measures. However, the number of EEA-EFTA members was quickly reduced: Switzerland decided not to ratify the agreement after a negative referendum on the issue, and Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the European Union in 1995. Only Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein remained in the EEA. The 10 new Member States that will join the EU on 1. Bulgaria and Romania became members of the EEA when they joined the EU in 2007 and Croatia in 2013[1]. During the transition period, the UK and other EEA members will remain bound by existing obligations under international agreements concluded by the EU, including the EEA Agreement. [14] In January and February 2020, the UK government ruled out future alignment with internal market rules, effectively excluding EEA membership after the end of the transition period.

[66] [67] [68] On November 20, 2013, it was announced that an enlargement agreement had been reached. The text was initialled on 20 December 2013 and, after its signature in April 2014, the agreement will be provisionally applied pending ratification by Croatia, all EEA States and the European Union. [13] [22] [43] In September 2020, the Agreement was ratified by 19 of the 32 Contracting Parties. [4] However, at the time of the creation of the EEA in 1994, several developments undermined its credibility. Firstly, Switzerland rejected the EEA Agreement in a national referendum on 6 December 1992, thus hindering the full integration of the EU-EFTA into the EEA. In addition, Austria had applied to become a full member of the EEC in 1989, followed by Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland between 1991 and 1992 (Norway`s accession to the EU was rejected by referendum, Switzerland froze its application to the EU after the rejection of the EEA agreement by referendum). The fall of the Iron Curtain had made the EU less reluctant to accept these highly developed countries as member states, as it would reduce the pressure on the EU budget if the former socialist countries of Central Europe joined. [15] Following the Council of the European Union`s call in November 2012 for an assessment of the EU`s relations with the small sovereign European states of Andorra, Monaco and San Marino, which it described as “fragmented”[51], the European Commission published a report setting out options for its further integration into the EU. [52] Unlike Liechtenstein, which is a member of the EEA through EFTA and the Schengen Agreement, relations with these three states are based on a set of agreements dealing with specific issues. The report examined four alternatives to the current situation: 1) a sectoral approach with separate agreements with each state covering an entire policy area, 2) a comprehensive Multilateral Association Framework Agreement (MIF) with the three states, 3) EEA accession and 4) EU membership.

The Commission argued that the sectoral approach does not address the main issues and remains unnecessarily complicated, while EU membership will be rejected in the near future because “the EU institutions are currently not adapted to the accession of these small countries”. The other options, EEA membership and an FAA with the states, proved feasible and were recommended by the Commission. Although the two are closely related, the EEA and the EU are not the same thing. The EEA Agreement refers to the internal market and related legislation, while the EU is both economic and political in nature. All the regulations that EEA countries must comply with are formed by the EU, which means that EEA/EFTA countries have no say in the design of the laws they have to implement. EEA countries must also make financial contributions to the EU, although less than the contributions of an EU member. The European Economic Area (EEA) was created by the Agreement on the European Economic Area, an international agreement that allows the extension of the European Union`s internal market to the member states of the European Free Trade Association. [7] The EEA links the EU Member States and three EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) in an internal market subject to the same basic rules. The United Kingdom benefits from this relationship during the transition/transposition period provided for in the Treaties. [2] These rules aim to allow the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital within the European internal market, including the free choice of residence in each country in that zone.

The EEA was created on the 1st. It was set up in January 1994 with the entry into force of the EEA Agreement. The contracting parties are the EU, its Member States as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the United Kingdom. [8] On the basis of the EEA Agreement and other bilateral agreements, customs duties on most types of whitefish products have been abolished. In addition, there are significant tariff reductions for other processed fish and fishery products. However, the EEA Agreement does not provide for tariff reductions for some of the most important species in Iceland and Norway. The EEA Agreement was signed in Porto on 2 May 1992 by the seven countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the European Community (EC) and its 12 member states at the time. [16] [17] On the 6th. In December 1992, the Swiss electorate rejected the ratification of the agreement in a referendum ordered by the Constitution[18], effectively freezing the application for EC membership submitted earlier this year. Rather, Switzerland is linked to the EU by a series of bilateral agreements. On 1 January 1995, three former EFTA members – Austria, Finland and Sweden – joined the European Union, which had replaced the European Community with the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty on 1 November 1993.

(The fourth EFTA state, Switzerland, renounces membership.) The aim of the agreement is to strengthen trade and economic relations between countries by removing barriers to trade and establishing a level playing field and compliance with the same rules. The EEA Agreement brings together the 28 EU Member States and the three EEA EFTA States, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, in the internal market, which is subject to the same basic rules. It guarantees the four freedoms of the EU`s internal market as well as non-discrimination and the same competition rules throughout the EEA. The original plan for the EEA lacked the EFTA Court of Justice or the EFTA Surveillance Authority, as the “EEA Court” (composed of five members of the Court of Justice of the European Union and three members of the EFTA countries and would be functionally integrated into the CJEU)[75] and the European Commission had to carry out these tasks. However, during the negotiations on the EEA Agreement, the Court of Justice of the European Communities informed the Council of the European Union (Opinion 1/91) that it considered that the jurisdiction of the EEA court in respect of UNION law, which would form part of EEA law, would constitute an infringement of the Treaties and that, therefore, the current regime was developed instead. After negotiations with the Authority, the CJEU confirmed its legality in Opinion 1/92. The EEA Agreement provides for a high level of trade liberalisation in most sectors. However, agriculture and fisheries are not covered by the EEA Agreement. The EU and Switzerland have signed more than 120 bilateral agreements, including a free trade agreement in 1972 and two major series of sectoral bilateral agreements that aligned much of Swiss law with that of the EU at the time of signature. The first set of sectoral agreements (known as Bilateral Agreements I) was signed in 1999 and entered into force in 2002. .