Europska slobodna trgovinska zona osnovana je 1960.

godine i reakcija je na osnivanje

EEZ-a, kako bi se spriječila opasnost o ekonomskoj diskriminaciji. EFTA je izgubila na
značenju kroz pristupanje država članica ovoj zajednici (Velika Britanija, Irska i Danska
1973., a Portugal 1986.).

Europska zajednica je 1973. godine s EFTA-om zaključila Ugovor o slobodnoj trgovini.

Od 1994. na snazi je europski ekonomski prostor između država Europske Zajednice i
država EFTA-e. Nakon pristupanja Finske, Švedske i Austrije EU 1995. godine, EFTA
obuhvaća samo još Lihtenštajn, Norvešku, Island i Švicarsku. Državljani EFTA-e, po
principu reciprociteta, imaju pravo raditi u Europskoj Uniji.

Razvoj [uredi]

██ zemlje zemlje članice

██ koje su napustile EFTA-u

EFTA-u su osnovale Austrija, Danska, Norveška, Portugal, Švedska, Švicarska i UK.

1961. godine Finska je postala zemlja suradnik EFTA-e, a 1986. potpuna članica. EFTA-i
se 1970. godine pridružio Island a 1991. Lihtenštajn. Od navedenih država sve su osim
Lihtenštajna, Norveške, Islanda i Švicarske napustile EFTA-u zbog ulaska u EEZ ili EU

You are here : Home About EFTA The European Free Trade Association

The European Free Trade Association  

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is an intergovernmental organisation set
up for the promotion of free trade and economic integration to the benefit of its four
Member States.

The Association is responsible for the management of:

  The EFTA Convention, which forms the legal basis of the organisation and
governs free trade relations between the EFTA States;
 EFTA’s worldwide network of free trade and partnership agreements; and
 The European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement, which enables three of the four
EFTA Member States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) to participate in the
EU’s Internal Market.

EFTA was founded in 1960 on the premise of free trade as a means of achieving growth
and prosperity amongst its Member States as well as promoting closer economic
cooperation between the Western European countries. Furthermore, the EFTA countries
wished to contribute to the expansion of trade globally.

Based on these overall goals, EFTA today maintains the management of the EFTA
Convention (intra-EFTA trade), the EEA Agreement (EFTA-EU relations), and the
EFTA Free Trade Agreements (third country relations). The EFTA Convention and
EFTA free trade agreements are managed by the Geneva office, and the EEA Agreement
by the Brussels office.

EFTA was founded by the Stockholm Convention in 1960. The immediate aim of the
Association was to provide a framework for the liberalisation of trade in goods amongst
its Member States. At the same time, EFTA was established as an economic
counterbalance to the more politically driven European Economic Community (EEC).
Relations with the EEC, later the European Community (EC) and the European Union
(EU), have been at the core of EFTA activities from the beginning. In the 1970s, the
EFTA States concluded free trade agreements with the EC; in 1994 the EEA Agreement
entered into force. Since the beginning of the 1990s, EFTA has actively pursued trade
relations with third countries in and beyond Europe. The first partners were the Central
and Eastern European countries, followed by the countries in the Mediterranean area. In
recent years, EFTA's network of free trade agreements has reached across the Atlantic as
well as into Asia.

EFTA was founded by the following seven countries: Austria, Denmark, Norway,
Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Finland joined in 1961, Iceland
in 1970 and Liechtenstein in 1991. In 1973, the United Kingdom and Denmark left EFTA
to join the EC. They were followed by Portugal in 1986 and by Austria, Finland and
Sweden in 1995. Today the EFTA Member States are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and
Switzerland.

British reaction to the creation of the EEC was mixed and complex. Consequently, in
1960 (after the creation of EFTA), France vetoed British membership. Britain was also
preoccupied with the Commonwealth, which was in a critical period. The UK brought
together several countries (including some bordering the EEC) and decided to form the
European Free Trade Association in about 1959, soon after the establishment of the 6-
nation EEC. (France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. These
last three are also known as the Benelux Union.)
On 4 January 1960 the Treaty on European Free Trade Association was initialed in the
Golden Hall of the Prince's Palace of Stockholm. This established the progressive
elimination of customs duties on industrial products, but did not affect agricultural
products or maritime trade.

The main difference between the early EEC and the EFTA was the absence of a common
external customs tariff, and therefore each EFTA member was free to establish individual
customs duties against trade with non EFTA countries.

Despite this modest initiative, the financial results were excellent, as it stimulated an
increase of foreign trade volume among its members from 3 522 to 8 172 million US
dollars between 1959 and 1967. This was however rather less than the increase enjoyed
by countries inside the EEC.

After the accession of Denmark and the UK to the EEC, EFTA began to falter. For this
reason most countries eased or eliminated their trade tariffs in preparation to join the
EEC, but experienced declining revenue which reduced the importance of EFTA.
Currently there are only 4 members remaining: Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein
and Iceland. Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009 following the 2008–2009
Icelandic financial crisis.

general Secretaries of EFTA:

 1960-1965: Frank E. Figgures

 1965-1972: Sir John Coulson
 1972-1975: Bengt Rabaeus
 1976-1981: Charles Müller
 1981-1988: Per Kleppe
 1988-1994: Georg Reisch
 1994-2000: Kjartan Jóhannsson
 2000-2006: William Rossier
 2006–present: Kåre Bryn

The Norwegian electorate has rejected treaties of accession to the EU in two referenda.
At the time of the first referendum (1972) their neighbour Denmark joined. The second
time (1994) two other Nordic neighbours, Sweden and Finland, joined the EU. The last
two governments of Norway have been unable and unwilling to advance the question, as
they have both been coalition governments consisting of proponents and opponents.

Since Switzerland rejected the EEA in 1992, referenda on EU membership have been
initiated, the last time in 2001. These were rejected by clear majorities.

Iceland, on the other hand, may join the EU in the near future, following the global
financial crisis of 2008, which has particularly affected the local economy. On 16 July
2009, the government formally applied for EU membership.[5]
In mid-2005, representatives of the Faroe Islands hinted at the possibility of their territory
joining EFTA.[6] However, the chances of the Faroes' bid for membership are uncertain
because, according to Article 56 of the EFTA Convention, only states may become
members of the Association.[7] The Faroes already have an extensive bilateral free trade
agreement with Iceland, known as the Hoyvík Agreement.

Slobodna trgovinska zona

Slobodna trgovinska zona je grupa od najmanje dva carinska područja između kojih su
podignute carine i odstranjene druge mjere koje sprječavaju spoljnu trgovinu. Evropski
primjer slobodne tgovinske zone je EFTA, američki pandan je NAFTA. Razlika između
slobodne trgovinske zone i carinske unije je u tome što unutar slobodne trgovinske zone
ne postoji određena zajednička spoljna carinska tarifa, što znači da države zadržavaju
svoje carine prema trećim državama.
Ugovori o slobodnoj trgovini

Ugovori o stvaranju zone slobodne trgovine između dvije ili više zemalja sklapaju se s
ciljem uklanjanja carinskih i necarinskih barijera u međusobnoj trgovini, kako bi se
potaknuo rast trgovine među ugovornim stranama, povećala izravna ulaganja, te postigla
veća transparentnost u trgovinskim politikama i poslovnim predviđanjima.

U cilju osvajanja novih tržišta za hrvatske proizvode i otvaranja domaćeg tržišta

međunarodnoj konkurenciji programom je predviđeno da se u roku od dvije godine stvore
uvjeti da se preko 80% ukupne vanjskotrgovinske razmjene hrvatskog gospodarstva
odvija pod uvjetima slobodne trgovine. S tim ciljem sklopljeni su preferencijalni
trgovinski aranžmani na osnovi ugovora o slobodnoj trgovini s Europskom unijom,
zemljama CEFTA-e, EFTA-e i drugim europskim zemljama.

Definicija zone slobodne trgovine

Zonu slobodne trgovine (FTA, Free Trade Area) čine dva ili više carinska područja
unutar kojih su ukinute sve carine i druga trgovinska ograničenja na gotovu svu robu
podrijetlom iz tih područja koja se međusobno razmjenjuje. Za razliku od carinske unije,
zemlje pristupnice zoni slobodne trgovine zadržavaju vlastitu carinsku tarifu prema
trećim zemljama.

Principi na kojima se zasnivaju zone slobodne trgovine:

1. Stvaranje zona slobodne trgovine mora biti potpuno u skladu sa člankom XXIV
GATT-a, koji ih dozvoljava kao iznimku od općeg pravila o nediskrimninaciji, pod
uvjetom da one olakšavaju i potiču trgovinu između zemalja koje ih sačinjavaju i da pri
tome ne stvaraju prepreke trgovini prema ostalim članicama WTO-a.
Zona slobodne trgovine je prihvatljiva u odnosu na uvjete koje postavlja GATT, ako:

 je liberalizacijom trgovine unutar zone obuhvaćen najveći dio međusobne

trgovine; samo najosjetljiviji proizvodi mogu biti izostavljeni od liberalizacije,
kao što su određeni poljoprivredni proizvodi; i
  nakon stvaranja zone slobodne trgovine zemlje pristupnice prema trećim
zemljama ne primjenjuju više carine i restriktivnije trgovinske mjere nego u
razdoblju koje je prethodilo zoni slobodne trgovine.

2. Zone slobodne trgovine moraju u pravilu biti recipročne, omogućavajući svim

ugovornim stranama jednaku korist.

3. Uzajamne povlastice odobravaju se samo proizvodima koji su podrijetlom iz zemalja

koje sačinjavaju zonu slobodne trgovine. Stoga je bitan sastavni dio ugovora o slobodnoj
trgovini protokol o pravilima o podrijetlu, kako bi se spriječilo zaobilaženje ovog
principa preko trećih zemalja.

4. U ugovorima o slobodnoj trgovini dozvoljava se primjena samozaštitnih mjera u

opravdanim slučajevima, npr. u slučaju platnobilančnih teškoća ili u slučaju
prekomjernog uvoza nekog proizvoda koji može izazvati poremećaj na domaćem tržištu.

5. Ugovorima o slobodnoj trgovini uređuju se i sva ostala područja izravno vezana uz

međusobnu trgovinu: unutarnje oporezivanje, državni monopoli, pravila konkurencije,
državna pomoć, zaštita intelektualnog vlasništva, antidampinške mjere.

Stanje potpisnih Ugovora o slobodnoj trgovini:

Datum početka
Zemlja Napomena
primjene                                       

1. 1. 2002.
Promjene vezane na proširenje EU su
EU27 (za novih 10 zemalja članica EU
definirane Protokolom 7. SSP-a
od 1. 5. 2004., a za Rumunjsku i
Bugarsku od 1.1.2007.)

 EFTA
1. 1. 2002. (Švicarska)
(Švicarska,
1. 1. 2002. (Lihtenštajn) -
 Lihtenštajn,
1. 4. 2002. (Norveška)
 Norveška,
1. 8. 2002. (Island)
 Island)
22.8.2007. 19. prosinca 2006. godine u
CEFTA 2006 24.10.2007. (Srbija) Bukureštu je potpisan novi
(Hrvatska, 22.11.2007. (BiH) Srednjoeuropski ugovor o slobodnoj
Albanija, BiH, trgovini (CEFTA 2006) kojeg
Crna Gora,   je potpisalo osam zemalja: Albanija,
Kosovo, Bosna i Hercegovina, Hrvatska,
Makedonija, Makedonija, Moldova, Crna Gora,
Moldova, Srbija te civilni upravitelj
Srbija) Ujedinjenih naroda na Kosovu u ime
 Kosova.
Turska 1.7.2003. -