WTO | Regional trade agreements

European Economic Area (EEA)

Basic InformationWTO Consideration ProcessRTA Provisions

Agreement name:	European Economic Area (EEA)
Coverage:	Services	Type:	Economic Integration Agreement
Status:	In Force	Notification under:	GATS Art. V
Date of signature:	02-May-1992	Date of notification:	13-Sep-1996
Date of entry into force:	01-Jan-1994	End of implementation period:	1994
Remarks:	Official Journal of the European Union: L 1 of 03-Jan-1994. Each EFTA State Party to the EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) is also Party to a separate RTA concluded with the EU Member States. The EU-Iceland; EU-Norway; EU-Switzerland-Liechtenstein RTAs had been previously notified under GATT Art. XXIV. Switzerland is an EFTA State but is not a Party to the EEA. The United Kingdom was a Member State of the European Union until 31 January 2020. The European Union and the United Kingdom have agreed a Withdrawal Agreement pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which provides for a time-limited transition period during which European Union law, with limited exceptions as provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement will apply to and in the United Kingdom. Further details are available in the communication from the United Kingdom (WT/GC/206) dated 1 February 2020 and the note verbal from the European Union (WT/LET/1462) dated 27 January 2020 notifying WTO members that the United Kingdom is treated as a member State of the European Union for the purposes of relevant international agreements for the duration of the transition period.
Current signatories:	Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Iceland; Liechtenstein; Norway
Original signatories:	Belgium; Denmark; France; Germany; Greece; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; Liechtenstein; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Norway; Portugal; Spain; United Kingdom
RTA Composition:	Plurilateral; One Party is an RTA
Region:	Europe
All Parties WTO members?	Yes	Cross-Regional:	No

Related agreements

EU - Iceland
EU - Norway
EU - Switzerland - Liechtenstein
EU Treaty

Official Web Address

European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
European Commission

Text of the agreement

Text of the agreement	E

Annexes & related documents

Annexes	E

		Consideration status	Factual Abstract issued

Related documents

Document series: WT/REG138

Document type	Symbol	Language
Notification	S/C/N/28	E F S
Agreement	WT/REG138/1	E F S
Factual Abstract		E
Standard Format for information on RTAs	WT/REG138/2	E F S
Questions and Replies	WT/REG138/3	E F S
Questions and Replies	WT/REG138/4	E F S
Note on the Meeting of the CRTA	WT/REG138/M/1	E F S
Note on the Meeting of the CRTA	WT/REG138/M/2	E F S
Note on the Meeting of the CRTA	WT/REG138/M3	E F S
Notification / Inactive Agreements	WT/REG/GEN/N/10	E F S

Document type	Language
Factual Abstract (S)	E

RTA Provisions Glossary

For details on these provisions, please consult the Glossary.

Last modified on: 27/06/2024

Topics
	Technical regulations, standards, technical barriers to trade (TBT)
		Harmonization/alignement of TBT measures at the bilateral/regional level
	Services
		Negative list (Services)
	Rendez-Vous/Review/Evolutionary clause (services)
	Investment Liberalization Provisions
		Investment liberalization
	Provisions on capital transfers
	Mutual Recognition
	Balance-of-payments measures (Services)
	Movement of Natural Persons
	Sector-specific chapter/section or other legal instrument (Services)
	General Exceptions
	Security Exceptions


	Accession
		Accession open to some third parties only
	Dispute Settlement (DS)
		Standing Tribunal
	Government procurement
	Intellectual property rights
		Copyrights and neighbouring rights
		Patent
		Trademarks
		Layout-Designs (topographies) of integrated circuits
	Competition
		Adopts or maintains competition law
	Provisions on designated monopolies or State Owned Enterprises (SOEs)
	Environment
	Labour
	Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
		Cooperation
	Gender
		International commitments

Report a broken link