Glossary:European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
From Statistics Explained
The European Free Trade Association, abbreviated as EFTA, is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1960 by seven European countries (Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) to promote free trade and economic integration to the benefit of its Member States.
All original signatories except Norway and Switzerland withdrew from EFTA upon joining the European Union (EU), as did Finland which had become an associate member in 1961 and full member in 1986. As meanwhile Iceland had joined in 1970 and Liechtenstein in 1991, this results in EFTA's present four-country membership:
| Iceland | (IS) | Liechtenstein | (LI) |
| Norway | (NO) | Switzerland | (CH) |
The association is responsible for the management of:
- the free trade between the EFTA countries;
- EFTA’s participation in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the European Union and three EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtentstein and Norway, but not Switzerland);
- EFTA’s worldwide network of free trade agreements.
share
blog
cite
print 
bookmark
send to friend