European Free Trade Association

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is an intergovernmental organization that promotes free trade among Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

EFTA Convention: The treaty establishing the European Free Trade Association and governing trade relations among its members. It supplies the legal framework for free trade among the four current members.
European Economic Community: A predecessor of the European Union, founded in 1957 to create a common market among its member states. Its deeper integration distinguished it from the free-trade area EFTA was designed to provide.
Free-trade area: A group of economies that removes trade barriers among members while each retains its own external trade policy. This is the basic economic form EFTA was created to organize.
EFTA–Canada Free Trade Agreement: A free trade agreement between the EFTA states and Canada, in force since 2009. It shows how EFTA negotiates external trade access as a group.
European Coal and Steel Community: A 1951 European organization that pooled members’ coal and steel industries and preceded the European Communities. Its sectoral institutions contrast with EFTA’s focus on reducing trade barriers generally.
EFTA free trade agreements: Trade agreements EFTA states conclude collectively with countries and territories outside the association. They extend members’ market access beyond EFTA’s own area.
Stockholm Convention: The 1960 treaty that established the European Free Trade Association. It records EFTA’s founding commitment to reduce trade barriers among its original members.
Customs union: A group of economies that removes internal tariffs and adopts a common external tariff. Unlike a customs union, EFTA members set their external trade policies separately.
EFTA–Mexico Free Trade Agreement: A free trade agreement between the EFTA states and Mexico, in force since 2001. It illustrates EFTA’s network of agreements beyond the European market.
European Political Community: A proposed political federation of European states that was never established after its 1953 draft treaty failed ratification. The proposal highlights the political integration EFTA did not pursue.

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