The Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) is a global accord that facilitates the expansion of the European Union’s single market to members of the European Free Trade Association. The EEA creates a common internal market with the three EFTA members of Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway as well as the member states of the EU. The agreement seeks to enable the free movement of people, products, services, and capital inside the European Single Market. Upon the EEA Agreement’s entry into force on January 1, 1994, the EEA was formally constituted. The EU, its member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway are the contracting parties.
Membership
The EEA parties at its entry into force In 1994 consisted of 17 states and the now-defunct European Coal and Steel Community, together with two other European Communities. As of 2020, there were 30 members, including three of the four EFTA members and 27 EU member states. In anticipation of Croatia becoming the final and newest member of the EU, the Agreement is enforced temporarily concerning Croatia. One EFTA member, Switzerland, has a set of bilateral sectoral agreements with the EU that allow it to take part in the internal market even though it has not joined the EEA.
Rights and responsibilities
The free movement of people, commodities, services and capital among EEA member states underpins the European Single Market and the European Union. As a result, the EEA nations that are not EU members benefit from free trade with the EU. These nations are required to ratify a portion of EU law in exchange. However, as part of a formal decision-shaping process, they also participate in and have an early impact on the development of new EEA-relevant policies and regulations. The EEA does not apply to agriculture or fishing. Norway and Iceland view not being subject to the Common Fisheries Policy as being extremely significant and a key deterrent to joining the EU. Giving up fishing quotas in their waters would be by the Common Fisheries Policy.
Legislation
Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway have pledged to pass laws in the fields of social policy, consumer protection, the environment, business law, and statistics that are comparable to those passed in the EU. EEA nations are consulted before new EU legislative proposals are made, and they take part in early legislative drafting. The EEA Agreement specifies that the EEA/EFTA countries may provide input before certain pieces of legislation are passed, including approval by the EEA Joint Committee. It becomes a part of the EEA Agreement after being adopted by the EEA Joint Committee. The EFTA nations that are members of the EEA are required to incorporate it into national law.
EU and EAA
A country must ask for membership in the EEA when it joins the EU; membership is not automatically granted. After the EU expanded in May 2004 to include Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, the EEA Enlargement Agreement was implemented on a provisional basis to them as of the date of their accession to the EU. On the other hand, an EEA Enlargement Agreement was not agreed upon until July 25. It provisionally went into effect on August 1, 2007, following the 2007 EU enlargement, which saw Bulgaria and Romania accede to the EU on January 1, 2007. On November 9, 2011, the treaty finally came into full effect.
United Kingdom’s exit
On January 28, 2020, the EEA EFTA States (Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) and the UK signed a Separation Agreement. It is believed to replicate the EEA-relevant sections of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement. The withdrawal agreement established a transition period during which the United Kingdom and the other EEA members would both continue to be subject to the existing obligations resulting from international agreements reached by the EU, including the EEA Agreement. This period would begin after the UK’s formal withdrawal on January 31, 2020, and end on December 31, 2020. After the transition period ends on December 31, 2020, the United Kingdom government effectively ruled out EEA membership in January and February 2020 by rejecting a future alignment to internal market regulations.
Norway and EEA Grants
The financial aid provided by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway to lessen social and economic inequalities in Europe is known as the EEA and Norway Grants. The 15 beneficiary governments in Central and Southern Europe had access to €1.3 billion in project funding between 2004 and 2009. The EEA and Norway Grants were established in conjunction with the 2004 expansion of the European Economic Area (EEA), which unites the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway in the Internal Market. The Financial Mechanism Office, which is connected to the EFTA Secretariat in Brussels, was in charge of administering the grants.
