This project has been funded with support from the European Commission (226388-cp-1-2005-1-de-comenius-c21). This publication reflects the views only of the authors

5.2.3. North American Free Trade Agreement - NAFTA

The NAFTA is the trade bloc in North America created by the NAFTA and its two supplements, the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), whose members are Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It came into effect on January 1, 1994 (Mexico started full implementation in 2008) and it remains the largest trade bloc in the world in terms of combined GDP of its members.
NAFTA was an expansion of the earlier Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1988. NAFTA eliminated the majority of tariffs on products traded among the USA, Canada and Mexico, and gradually phased out other tariffs over a 15-year period. Restrictions were to be removed from many categories, including motor vehicles, computers, textiles, and agriculture. The treaty also protects intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, and trademarks), and outlines the removal of investment restrictions among the three countries. The treaty is trilateral in nature; the terms apply equally to all countries, in which stipulations, tariff reduction phase-out periods, and protection of selected industries, were negotiated on a bilateral basis. Provisions regarding worker and environmental protection were added later as a result of supplemental agreements signed in 1992.

5.2.4. European Free Trade Association - EFTA

EFTA is an intergovernmental organization set up for the promotion of free trade and economic integration to the benefit of its four member states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The Association manages the EFTA Convention; EFTA’s worldwide network of free trade and partnership agreements, and the European Economic Area Agreement (EEA).
EFTA Convention is set up in 1960 to provide a framework for the liberalization of trade in goods amongst its member states and updated in 2001 (called the Vaduz Convention).
EFTA’s worldwide network of free trade and partnership agreements - consisting of EFTA, EEA, Free Trade Agreement and Joint Declaration of Cooperation plus on-going and potential FTAs - create one of the world's largest networks of free trade partners securing free access to markets of around 440 million consumers.
The EEA, which entered into force on 1 January 1994, brings together the 27 EU members and the three EFTA countries - Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway - in a single internal market, referred to as the “Internal Market.” The EEA Agreement provides for the inclusion of EU legislation that covers the four freedoms - the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital - throughout the 30 EEA States. In addition, the Agreement covers co-operation in other important areas such as research and development, education, social policy, the environment, consumer protection, tourism and culture, collectively known as “flanking and horizontal” policies. The Agreement guarantees equal rights and obligations within the Internal Market for citizens and economic operators in the EEA.