• Standing and Joint Committee meetings – 10 and 11 June 2010   11.06.2010

    The Standing and Joint Committees met on 10 and 11 June 2010, adopting 22 decisions incorporating 53 legal acts.

  • Highlights from the meeting of Subcommittees I-IV   03.06.2010

    On 27 May 2010, Subcommittees I-IV held their third meeting of the year (April’s meeting having been cancelled due to the Icelandic volcano). Continuing to take advantage of the subcommittees’ merger, various horizontal issues concerning comitology, the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) and upcoming two-pillar issues were vividly discussed.

  • EFTA Seminar on the EEA and Bilateral Trade Agreements   01.06.2010
    EEA Seminar

    Participants from the public and private sectors met at the Secretariat in Brussels on 27 and 28 May 2010 for the biannual EFTA Seminar on the EEA.

  • 33rd meeting of the EEA Council - Brussels 10 May 2010   10.05.2010

    The EEA Council met this morning for its 33rd meeting. The Council discussed the overall functioning of the EEA Agreement, with special focus on to how to manage the challenges of the financial crisis. Ministers agreed on the importance of strengthening the regulatory framework, stressing the importance of adequate participation by national authorities of the EEA EFTA States in the new supervisory structure, on an equal footing with the EU countries.

  • Food Law Package and Services Directive: Formal extension to EEA on 1 May   30.04.2010

    On 17 March 2010, Iceland notified the fulfilment of constitutional requirements concerning the EEA Joint Committee Decisions (JCDs) on the Food Law Package. Two weeks later the notification concerning the Services Directive followed. As the necessary parliamentary procedures had already been completed in the other EEA EFTA Member States, the JCDs formally enter into force on 1 May 2010, thus extending the relevant EU legislation to the EEA area.

  • Standing and Joint Committee meetings - 29 and 30 April 2010   30.04.2010
    EEA Joint Committee

    The EFTA Standing Committee and EEA Joint Committee met on 29 and 30 April 2010 respectively. In the Standing Committee, the Liechtenstein Chair confirmed that the Services Directive will enter into force in the EEA EFTA States on 1 May 2010.

  • Liechtenstein celebrates its 15th anniversary of EEA membership   30.04.2010
    Signing of the EEA Agreement

    On 1 May 2010, Liechtenstein will be able to look back on 15 years of membership of the European Economic Area (EEA).

  • EEA Joint Committee Annual Report 2009   01.04.2010

    The EEA Joint Committee Annual Report 2009 was adopted by the Joint Committee by written procedure on 26 March 2010. The main part of the report provides an overview of the work of the EEA Joint Committee in 2009. Annex I comprises a review of the activities of the subcommittees under the EEA Joint Committee, Annex II contains an overview of the state of decision making in 2009 and Annex III presents a list of EEA Joint Committee Decisions (JCDs) adopted by the EEA Joint Committee in 2009.

  • Seminar on Network Neutrality and Next Generation Access Networks   25.03.2010

    On 16 March 2010, the EFTA Secretariat organised a seminar on Net Neutrality and Next Generation Access Networks. The seminar aimed at showcasing practices in the EFTA Member States relevant to the implementation of the Telecom Package and the Digital Agenda. The seminar brought together 100 practitioners and policy makers from the EU and EFTA Member States for a fruitful debate.

  • Seminar on Energy Management and Energy Efficiency Standards   25.03.2010
    Energy seminar

    On 23 March the EFTA Secretariat hosted a seminar on the contribution of standards to energy management and energy efficiency. The seminar was organised by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC).