Еуропалық еркін сауда аймағы және аймақтық сауда ұйымы

Regional trade organization and free trade area

EFTA was historically one of the two dominant western European trade blocs, but is now much smaller and closely associated with its historical competitor, the European Union. It was established on 3 May 1960 to serve as an alternative trade bloc for those European states that were unable or unwilling to join the then European Economic Community (EEC), the main predecessor of the EU. The Stockholm Convention (1960), to establish the EFTA, was signed on 4 January 1960 in the Swedish capital by seven countries (known as the "outer seven": Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). A revised Convention, the Vaduz Convention, was signed on 21 June 2001 and entered into force on 1 June 2002. After 1995 only two founding members remained, namely Norway and Switzerland. The other five, Austria, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom, had joined the EU at some point in the intervening years. The initial Stockholm Convention was superseded by the Vaduz Convention, which aimed to provide a successful framework for continuing the expansion and liberalization of trade, both among the organization's member states and with the rest of the world. While the EFTA is not a customs union and member states have full rights to enter into bilateral third country trade arrangements, it does have a coordinated trade policy. This established the progressive elimination of customs duties on industrial products, but did not affect agricultural or fisheries products. The main difference between the early EEC and the EFTA was that the latter did not operate common external customs tariffs unlike the former: each EFTA member was free to establish its individual customs duties against, or its individual free trade agreements with, non EFTA countries. The founding members of the EFTA were: Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. During the 1960s, these countries were often referred to as the "Outer Seven", as opposed to the Inner Six of the then European Economic Community (EEC). Finland became an associate member in 1961 and a full member in 1986, and Iceland joined in 1970. The United Kingdom and Denmark joined the EEC in 1973 and hence ceased to be EFTA members. Portugal also left EFTA for the European Community in 1986. Liechtenstein joined the EFTA in 1991 (previously its interests had been represented by Switzerland). Austria, Sweden, and Finland joined the EU in 1995 and thus ceased to be EFTA members. Twice, in 1972 and in 1994, the Norwegian government had tried to join the EU (still the EEC, in 1973) and by doing so, leave the EFTA. However, both the times, the membership of the EU was rejected in national referendums, keeping Norway in the EFTA. Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009 due to the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis, but has since dropped its bid.

The Norwegian electorate had rejected treaties of accession to the EU in two referendums. At the time of the first referendum in 1972, their neighbour, Denmark joined. Since the second referendum in 1994, two other Nordic neighbours, Sweden and Finland, have joined the EU. The last two governments of Norway have not advanced the question, as they have both been coalition governments consisting of proponents and opponents of EU membership.

Since Switzerland rejected the EEA membership in a referendum in 1992, more referendums on EU membership have been initiated, the last time being in 2001. These were all rejected. Switzerland has been in a customs union with fellow EFTA member state and neighbour Liechtenstein since 1924.

On 16 July 2009, the government of Iceland formally applied for EU membership, but the negotiation process was suspended in mid 2013, and in 2015 the foreign ministers wrote to withdraw its application.

Denmark was a founding member of EFTA in 1960, but its membership ended in 1973, when it joined the European Communities. The autonomous territories of the Kingdom of Denmark were covered by Denmark's EFTA membership: Greenland from 1961 and the Faroe Islands from 1968. In mid 2005, representatives of the Faroe Islands raised the possibility of their territory re joining the EFTA. Because Article 56 of the EFTA Convention only allows sovereign states to become members of the EFTA, the Faroes considered the possibility that the "Kingdom of Denmark in respect of the Faroes" could join the EFTA on their behalf. The Danish Government has stated that this mechanism would not allow the Faroes to become a member of the EEA because Denmark was already a party to the EEA Agreement. The Faroes already have an extensive bilateral free trade agreement with Iceland, known as the Hoyvík Agreement.

The United Kingdom was a co founder of EFTA in 1960, but ceased to be a member upon joining the European Economic Community. The country held a referendum in 2016 on withdrawing from the EU (popularly referred to as "Brexit"), resulting in a 51.9% vote in favour of withdrawing. A 2013 research paper presented to the Parliament of the United Kingdom proposed a number of alternatives to EU membership which would continue to allow it access to the EU's internal market, including continuing EEA membership as an EFTA member state, or the Swiss model of a number of bilateral treaties covering the provisions of the single market. In the first meeting since the Brexit vote, EFTA reacted by saying both that they were open to a UK return, and that Britain has many issues to work through. The president of Switzerland Johann Schneider Ammann stated that its return would strengthen the association. However, in August 2016 the Norwegian Government expressed reservations. Norway's European affairs minister, Elisabeth Vik Aspaker, told the Aftenposten newspaper: "It's not certain that it would be a good idea to let a big country into this organization. It would shift the balance, which is not necessarily in Norway's interests." In late 2016, the Scottish First Minister said that her priority was to keep the whole of the UK in the European single market but that taking Scotland alone into the EEA was an option being "looked at". However, other EFTA states have stated that only sovereign states are eligible for membership, so it could only join if it became independent from the UK, unless the solution scouted for the Faroes in 2005 were to be adopted (see above). In early 2018, British MPs Antoinette Sandbach, Stephen Kinnock and Stephen Hammond all called for the UK to rejoin EFTA.

The EEA and Norway Grants are the financial contributions of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to reduce social and economic disparities in Europe. They were established in conjunction with the 2004 enlargement of the European Economic Area (EEA), which brought together the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway in the Internal Market. In the period from 2004 to 2009, €1.3 billion of project funding was made available for project funding in the 15 beneficiary states in Central and Southern Europe. The EEA and Norway Grants are administered by the Financial Mechanism Office, which is affiliated to the EFTA Secretariat in Brussels.

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

EFTA has 29 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 40 states and territories, in addition to the 27 member states of the European Union. EFTA's interactive Free Trade Map gives an overview of the partners worldwide.

Nation (s)No of nations representedSignedEffectiveCoverageRef. Albania117 December 20091 November 2010Goods Bosnia and Herzegovina124 June 20131 January 2015Goods Canada126 January 20081 July 2009GoodsCentral America Costa Rica Panama224 June 201319 August 2014Goods & Services Chile126 June 20031 December 2004Goods & Services Colombia125 November 20081 July 2011Goods & Services Ecuador125 June 20181 November 2020Goods & Services Egypt127 January 20071 August 2007Goods Georgia127 June 20161 September 2017Goods & Services Gulf Cooperation Council622 June 20091 July 2014Goods & Services Hong Kong121 June 20111 October 2012Goods & Services Indonesia116 December 20181 November 2021Goods & Services Israel117 September 19921 January 1993Goods Jordan121 June 20011 September 2002Goods Lebanon124 June 20041 July 2007Goods Mexico127 November 20001 July 2001Goods Montenegro114 November 20111 September 2012Goods Morocco119 June 19971 December 1999Goods North Macedonia119 June 20001 May 2002Goods Palestinian Authority130 November 19981 July 1999Goods Peru124 June 20101 July 2011Goods Philippines128 April 20161 June 2018Goods & Services Serbia117 December 20091 October 2010Goods Singapore126 June 20021 January 2003Goods & Services South Korea115 December 20051 September 2006Goods & ServicesSouthern African Customs Union526 June 20061 May 2008Goods Tunisia117 December 20041 August 2005Goods Turkey125 June 20181 October 2021Goods & Services Ukraine124 June 20101 June 2012Goods & Services

EFTA member states' citizens enjoy freedom of movement in each other's territories in accordance with the EFTA convention. EFTA & EEA nationals also enjoy freedom of movement in the European Union (EU). EFTA nationals and EU citizens are not only visa exempt but are legally entitled to enter and reside in each other's countries. The Citizens' Rights Directive (also sometimes called the "Free Movement Directive") defines the right of free movement for citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the three EFTA members Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein plus the member states of the EU. Switzerland, which is a member of EFTA but not of the EEA, is not bound by the Directive but rather has a separate multilateral agreement on free movement with the EU and its member states. As a result, a citizen of an EFTA country can live and work in all the other EFTA countries and in all the EU countries, and a citizen of an EU country can live and work in all the EFTA countries (but for voting and working in sensitive fields, such as government / police / military, citizenship is often required, and non citizens may not have the same rights to welfare and unemployment benefits as citizens).

#StateNameYear1Frank Figgures1960–19652John Coulson1965–19723Bengt Rabaeus1972–19754Charles Müller1976–19815Per Kleppe1981–19886Georg Reisch1988–19947Kjartan Jóhannsson1994–20008William Rossier2000–20069Kåre Bryn2006–201210Kristinn F. Árnason2012–201811Henri Gétaz2018–present

The Portugal Fund came into operation in February 1977 when Portugal was still a member of EFTA. It was to provide funding for the development of Portugal after the Carnation Revolution and the consequential restoration of democracy and the decolonization of the country's overseas possessions. This followed a period of economic sanctions by most of the international community, which left Portugal economically underdeveloped compared to the rest of the western Europe. When Portugal left EFTA in 1985 in order to join the EEC, the remaining EFTA members decided to continue the Portugal Fund so that Portugal would continue to benefit from it. The Fund originally took the form of a low interest loan from the EFTA member states to the value of US$100 million. Repayment was originally to commence in 1988, however, EFTA then decided to postpone the start of repayments until 1998. The Portugal Fund was dissolved in January 2002.