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The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that the EFTA Standing Committee and the EEA Joint Committee met in Brussels on 17 and 18 March 2016 respectively. At the Joint Committee, the EU side gave an update on the EU-US negotiations on TTIP. In the Joint Committee meeting, 25 decisions were adopted incorporating 39 EU legal acts into the EEA Agreement. Among the acts incorporated was a regulation aiming to further prevent illicit trade in certain chemicals that could be used in the illegal manufacture of controlled substances, and to strengthen existing rules regarding drug precursors, and a regulation concerning statistics on healthcare expenditure and financing. Also incorporated were acts regarding aviation security, including a regulation on third countries recognised as applying security standards equivalent to the common basic standards on civil aviation. The EEA Joint Committee meeting, which was chaired by Mr Claude Maerten, Head of Division at the European External Action Service, included a briefing from the European Commission on the latest developments in the negotiations between the EU and the US on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and updates from the European Commission and the Icelandic delegation on capital control measures in Greece and Iceland respectively. So far this year 65 Joint Committee Decisions have been adopted by the EEA Joint Committee and 116 legal acts have been incorporated into the EEA Agreement. |
