On 20 January 2015, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that negotiators from EFTA and Vietnam met in Ho Chi Minh City from 13 to 16 January 2015 for an 11th round of negotiations.
On 21 January 2015, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that delegations from the EFTA and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States convened on 15 January 2015 in Muscat, Oman to discuss the implementation of the EFTA-GCC Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the GCC States. According to the announcement, The Joint Committee discussed the necessary steps towards implementation of the FTA in the GCC States. The GCC delegation reported that the GCC States’ target…
On 17 November 2014, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that EFTA held its biannual Ministerial Meeting in Geneva. The announcement stated: The EFTA Ministers welcomed the announcement of a breakthrough between India and the United States which paves the way for the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and the rest of the Bali package. This development represents a significant step in efforts to restore confidence in the multilateral trading system.The EFTA Ministers…
On 14 November 2014, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that on 13 November 2014, nine legal EU acts were incorporated into the EEA Agreement. Among these were two regulations establishing the EU Health Programme and the EU Consumer Programme and a decision on enhanced cooperation between European public employment services. The EEA Joint Committee Decisions were adopted by written procedure, mainly to secure EEA EFTA participation in the two programmes, as well as…
On 27 October 2014, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that in a final round of negotiations held in Guatemala City on 14 and 15 October 2014, delegations from the EFTA States and Guatemala substantially concluded free trade negotiations within the framework of the EFTA-Central America Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In intensive discussions, held over two days, the two sides managed to reach an agreement on the remaining outstanding issues, mainly in relation to…
On 9 July 2014, the EEA EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and the European Union adopted seven Joint Committee Decisions (JCDs) by written procedure incorporating 26 EU legal acts into the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement. One of the JCDs adopted by written procedure was the supplementary package on adaptations to the EEA Agreement, which were necessary due to Croatia’s accession to the EU.
On 17 July 2014, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway submitted a joint comment to the European Commission’s proposals for actions in the field of product safety and market surveillance.The Commission proposals are part of a package of initiatives outlined in the Communication ’20 actions for safer compliant products for Europe: a multi-annual action plan for the surveillance of products in the EU’. The package also includes proposals for a Regulation on Consumer Product Safety and a…
On 23 July 2014, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that following its ratification by all parties, the free trade agreement (FTA) between the EFTA States – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – and the Central American States of Costa Rica and Panama will become operational in the coming weeks. The announcement stated: The FTA was signed in June 2013. Its entry into force will occur in three stages: on 19 August 2014 between…