On 1 April 2011, the EEA Joint Committee decided to incorporate into the EEA Agreement a directive that will include aviation activities in the EU trading scheme for greenhouse gas emissions (EU ETS), thus extending the scope of the scheme to the EEA EFTA States.

In their meeting on 21 and 22 March 2011, Subcommittees I-IV discussed developments in comitology, a comprehensive assessment of the EU 2020 Strategy and its impact for the EEA EFTA countries as well as the Commission Communication dealing with the expansion and development of the Internal Market Information System or “IMI”.

The EFTA Standing and EEA Joint Committees met on 10 and 11 February 2011, respectively. In the Standing Committee the EEA EFTA States prepared for the meeting of the EEA Joint Committee and discussed the decisions to be adopted into the EEA Agreement, which included energy saving requirements for lightbulbs and other electrical equipment, and a regulatory framework on common rules in the field of civil aviation security providing harmonised aviation security rules across the European Union.

A special meeting of the EEA Joint Committee was held on 14 January 2011 on the disagreement over the management of a fish stock of common interest (mackerel). In the meeting the European Commission made a statement indicating that the EU was considering banning the landings of mackerel by Icelandic vessels in EU ports, in accordance with the provisions in Article 5 of Protocol 9 of the EEA Agreement.