Launch of EFTA’s FTA Monitor: A comprehensive report on the effective use of free trade agreements

The EFTA States jointly negotiate FTAs with partners outside the European Union in order to strengthen their competitive position and increase market access for their products. As a result, economic operators in the EFTA countries enjoy access to one of the world’s largest networks of preferential trade relations, which continues to expand thanks to an ambitious agenda of negotiations. Today, EFTA has 29 FTAs in force with 40 countries and territories outside the EU.

The brand new EFTA FTA Monitor provides the first overview as well as general insights into the use of the tariff preferences in existing FTAs between the EFTA States and their partner countries for the period 2018-2020. It comprises information on preference utilisation rates under all of EFTA’s FTAs on the import side and 15 FTAs on the export side.

The Monitor allows economic operators, policymakers and the general public to examine in detail to what extent companies make use of FTAs.

Indeed, economic operators in the EFTA States and partner countries have realised considerable tariff savings thanks to the FTA preferences.

The FTA Monitor helps stakeholders by providing detailed information on duty-free trade flows, achieved v. non-achieved tariff savings, and the scope for improving the use of any specific FTA at the level of individual products. It also allows for comparisons of preference utilisation rates over time as well as across trading partners and product groups.

The EFTA FTA Monitor is available on a new dedicated webpage on the EFTA website.