Transcript European Free Trade Association

EFTA
(European Free Trade Association )
• The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a
free trade organization between four European
countries that operates in parallel with – and is
linked to – the European Union (EU). The EFTA was
established on 3 May 1960 as a trade blocalternative for European states who were either
unable or unwilling to join then-European
Economic Community (EEC) which has now
become the EU.
•Today's EFTA members are Iceland,
Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, of
which the latter two were founding
members. The initial Stockholm Convention
was superseded by the Vaduz Convention,
which enabled greater liberalization of trade
among the member states.
Current members
Flag
State
Iceland
Liechten
stein
Norway
Switzerl
and
Official Accessio Populati Area
name
n
on
(km²)
1
Iceland January 320,000 103,000
1970
Principal
1
ity of
January 34,247 160.4
Liechten
1991
stein
Kingdom
3 May 5,038,13
of
385,155
1960
7
Norway
Swiss
3 May 8,000,00
Confeder
41,285
1960
0
ation
GDP in GDP per
Capital millions capita
(PPP)[2] (PPP)[2]
Reykjaví
12,831
k
39,223
Vaduz
3,545
98,432
Oslo
265,911 53,470
Bern
363,421 45,417
Institutions
•EFTA is governed by the EFTA Council
and serviced by the EFTA Secretariat. In
addition, in connection with the EEA
(European Economic Area) Agreement
of 1992, two other EFTA organizations
were established, the EFTA Surveillance
Authority and the EFTA Court.
Locations
• The EFTA Secretariat is headquartered in Geneva,
Switzerland, but also has duty stations in Brussels,
Belgium and Luxembourg. The EFTA Surveillance
(наблюдение) 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).
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 24 states and territories, in addition to
the 28 member states of the European Union