European Economic Area (EEA) is one of the largest integrated free-trade areas in the world. An integrated free trade area is one in which members have unified their economic policies. The EEA agreement is a trading and economic pact between all the members of the European Union (EU) and the members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. The EEA entered into force on Jan. 1, 1994.
The EEA agreement extends the single market of the European Union to EFTA countries and provides for greater cooperation in research and technology, education, and the environment. It covers the “four freedoms” laid down in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome, together with other rules on, for example, competition and state aids. The four freedoms consist of the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people. EFTA countries participate in most of the EU’s single market. One notable exception is that EFTA countries do not participate in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy or other sensitive areas where countries choose to protect their sovereignty.
See European Free Trade Association (EFTA); European Union (EU).
