European Free Trade Association

The European Free Trade Association is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The organization operates in parallel with the European Union , and all four member states participate in the European Single Market and are part of the Schengen Area. They are not, however, party to the European Union Customs Union.

EFTA was historically one of the two dominant western European trade blocs, but is now much smaller and closely associated with its historical competitor, the European Union. It was established on 3 May 1960 to serve as an alternative trade bloc for those European states that were unable or unwilling to join the then European Economic Community , the main predecessor of the EU. The Stockholm Convention , to establish the EFTA, was signed on 4 January 1960 in the Swedish capital by seven countries . A revised Convention, the Vaduz Convention, was signed on 21 June 2001 and entered into force on 1 June 2002.

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