European Free Trade Association

European Free Trade Association
an economic association established in 1960 and originally composed of Austria, Denmark, Britain, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, that maintains free trade in industrial products among member countries. Abbr.: EFTA

* * *

      group of four countries— Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland—organized to remove barriers to trade in industrial goods among themselves, but with each nation maintaining its own commercial policy toward countries outside the group. Headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

      The member countries of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (European Economic Co-operation, Organisation for) (OEEC; 1948) originally proposed an OEEC-wide free-trade area to which countries not wishing to join the European Economic Community (European Community) (EEC; now part of the European Union) could belong and in which the EEC would function as one unit. When negotiations for this broke down in November 1958, the “outside” group, then composed of Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (later known as the Outer Seven), decided to join together in the EFTA to strengthen their future bargaining power in establishing the wider free-trade area. The EFTA is based on the Stockholm Convention signed by the seven nations in November 1959 and becoming operative in May 1960. Finland became an associate member in 1961 and a full member in 1986; Iceland was admitted to full membership in 1970; and Liechtenstein (formerly associated through a customs union with Switzerland) became a full member in 1991. In January 1973, however, Britain and Denmark became members of the EEC and left the EFTA. Portugal joined the EEC in 1986. Austria, Finland, and Sweden became members of the European Union in 1995.

      The original convention committed the members to a schedule of tariff reductions and quota liberalizations for industrial goods but also included provisions for escape if the burden imposed on domestic economies proved too great. Provisions also were made for bilateral agreements to liberalize trade in agricultural products. By 1967, import duties on most industrial goods had been abolished. In 1977 the EFTA entered into agreements with the EEC that established industrial free trade between the two organizations' member countries. In October 1991 the members of the EFTA and EEC agreed to establish a free-trade zone among themselves called the European Economic Area (EEA), which came into effect on January 1, 1994. At that time Switzerland (which did not ratify the agreement) and Liechtenstein (bound by its union with Switzerland) did not join the EEA, but the following year Liechtenstein, after a series of negotiations with Switzerland, became a full member.

      A minimal administrative structure was set up by the original convention; meetings at the ministerial level usually occur twice yearly, and meetings at the official level take place every other week. Decisions are implemented by the individual governments themselves; EFTA holds no supranational powers.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • European Free Trade Association — See European Economic Area. Collins dictionary of law. W. J. Stewart. 2001. European Free Trade Association …   Law dictionary

  • European Free Trade Association — ˌEuropean ˌFree ˈTrade Associˌation abbreviation EFTA noun COMMERCE an area in which goods and services can be traded freely, with no taxes on imports, established by Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and Britain in 1958 to …   Financial and business terms

  • European Free Trade Association —   [jʊərə piːən friː treɪd əsəʊsɪ eɪʃn, englisch], Abkürzung EFTA, die Europäische Freihandelsassoziation …   Universal-Lexikon

  • European Free Trade Association — Infobox Geopolitical organisation conventional long name = European Free Trade Association (EFTA) linking name = the European Free Trade Association symbol type = Logo image symbol = EFTA logo.svg map caption = org type = Trade bloc membership… …   Wikipedia

  • European Free Trade Association — Gründung 4. Januar 1960 Mitgliedstaaten …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • European Free Trade Association —    (EFTA)    With the national economy recovering at a swift pace during the latter half of the 1950s, the Austrian coalition government was eager to establish closer commercial relations with Western Europe. Austria’s official status as a… …   Historical dictionary of Austria

  • European Free Trade Association Court — legend|#008000|EFTA court jurisdictionlegend|#000080|ECJ jurisdictionThe European Free Trade Association Court is a supranational court covering the three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members who are also members of the European… …   Wikipedia

  • European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority — [ thumb|250px|legend|#008000|Countries under the Surveillance Authoritylegend|#000080|Countries under the European Commission] The European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority performs the European Commission s role as guardian of the… …   Wikipedia

  • European Free Trade Association — EFTA A trade association formed in 1960 between Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Finland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein joined later while the UK, Denmark, Portugal, Austria, Finland, and Sweden left on joining… …   Big dictionary of business and management

  • European Free Trade Association — an economic association established in 1960 and originally composed of Austria, Denmark, Britain, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, that maintains free trade in industrial products among member countries. Abbr.: EFTA …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”