EFTA Standing and EEA Joint Committees meet on 12 and 13 July 2012
The EFTA Standing Committee and EEA Joint Committee met in Brussels on 12 and 13 July, respectively. Norway took over as Chair of both the Standing Committee and, on behalf of the EEA EFTA States, the Joint Committee. The EEA Joint Committee incorporated 28 EU acts into the EEA Agreement, including the Eurovignette Directive, the Temporary Agency Work Directive, the Goods Package, and the GMES programme.
In the Standing Committee, the Norwegian delegation gave a briefing on the meeting of the Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy with the EU Energy Commissioner on 22 June, while the Secretary-General gave a briefing on the recent EFTA Ministerial in Gstaad.
Furthermore, the final report of the Icelandic Work Programme for the first half of 2012 was presented, and the Norwegian Work Programme for the second half of 2012 was introduced.
At the end of the meeting, the Standing Committee took the opportunity to thank departing Secretary General Kåre Bryn and Deputy Secretary General Bergdis Ellertsdóttir for their service to EFTA. Mr. Bryn has been in the position since 2006, and will be succeeded by Kristinn F. Árnason of Iceland.
In the Joint Committee meeting, 28 decisions were adopted incorporating 38 legal acts into the EEA Agreement. Among these was the Temporary Agency Work Directive which was adopted with a statement from Norway. Also, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Programme (GMES) was extended to the EEA EFTA Countries. The Joint Committee also had a discussion on outstanding legal acts in the EEA Agreement.
Two other decisions, on the Eurovignette Directive and the Goods Package, are described in more detail in a separate news item on this website.
Details
Related Category
EEA EFTA Standing Committee
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EEA