Category: Some EU Trade Relationships

Background Switzerland narrowly rejected EEA membership in 1992. It also rejected EU membership in  1997 and 2001 by large margins. Switzerland’s participation in the EU / EEA internal market has been effected on an ad hoc  and partial basis through bilateral agreements with the EU. The current Swiss EU agreement consists of more than 200  […]

EFTA Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and UK concluded the EFTA agreement in 1960. Its primary purpose was to liberalise trade in goods without pursuing the political integration objectives of the European Economic Communities; the EEC.  Finland joined in 1961 followed by Iceland in 1970 and Liechtenstein in 1991. Ultimately, all of these states joined […]

Product Requirements Free movement of goods implies that products that conform to the applicable EU/EEA rule can circulate freely in the Internal Market. Obstacles to cross-border trade are called technical barriers to trade (TBT). Harmonisation of technical requirements removes barriers to cross-border trade. In order to significantly reduce TBT, the EU has adopted harmonised product […]

Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements The European neighbourhood policy seeks to provide comprehensive agreements with countries which politically are not in the position to join the EU whether for geopolitical or economic reasons. It promotes EU values in relation to human rights, the rule of law, democracy, market economy, sustainable development, labour protection, et […]

Trade in Goods The recently concluded Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada was negotiated over an eight-year period. The EU-Canada agreement further liberalises trade in almost all sectors. It eliminates tariffs on all industrial products, 90 percent of agricultural products and 66% of fisheries produce. The agreement increases tariff rate quotas for agricultural and […]

Tariffs- Trade in Goods Market Access Japan will liberalise 91% of its imports from the EU at entry into force. At the end of the staging period 99% of its imports from the EU will be liberalised, while the remaining imports (1%) will be partly liberalised through quotas and tariff reductions (in agriculture). In terms […]

Overview The existing EU-Turkey bilateral preferential trade framework (BPTF) dates from 1995 and has become outdated in view of the deep and comprehensive free trade agreements (DCFTAs) that the EU has since concluded or is negotiating with other economic partners, including the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), […]

Background The Faroe Islands is archipelago in the North Atlantic, about halfway between Norway and Iceland. It is approximately 320 kilometres from the northwest of Scotland. The population of the Faroe Island is 50,000. Between 1035 and 1814, the Faroes were part of the hereditary Kingdom of Norway. An 1814 treaty granted Denmark control of […]

Background Greenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark. Its population is 56,480. It is part of the Danish Realm under the Constitution of Denmark 1953. It has been a Danish colony since 1814 and prior to the breakup of Denmark/Norway had been under the Norwegian Crown since 1262. Greenland (unlike the […]

Background A united Cyprus became independent from the United Kingdom in 1960. Greek and Turkish Cypriots had earlier sought respectively to unite with Greece and Turkey. A Constitution was established which apportioned government positions, Parliamentary seats and places in the administration. Following disagreements on constitutional amendments applied by the President in 1963, which Turkish Cypriots […]

Isle of Man The Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom or the European Union. It is neither a member or associated member of the European Union. It did not take part in the Brexit referendum. It is a crown dependency with its own independent parliament and administration. The Queen is sovereign […]

Background Gibraltar is a British overseas territory. It  was ceded to the Crown of Great Britain in perpetuity by the Treaty of Utrecht  in 1713. Gibraltar comprises approximately 5.8 square kilometres of land and approximately 4.5 km of territorial waters. Gibraltar is a separate jurisdiction to the United Kingdom with its own government administration and […]

Origin Article XXIV(3) of the GATT agreement provides that the provisions of the Agreement shall not be interpreted to prevent advantages accorded by any contracting party to adjacent countries in order to facilitate frontier traffic.  The GATT interpretive note expands further on the frontier traffic exception. The wording of the reference to frontier traffic which […]

Outermost Regions The Special member state territories of the European Union are various territories which for historical geographical or political reasons have a special status within or special relationship with the European Union. The nine outermost regions form part of the European Union and are subject to certain derogations due to their distance from Europe. […]

Guidance Existing UK trade agreements with non-EU countries Find out about the trade agreements the UK has already signed and our discussions with countries the EU has a trade agreement with. Published 29 January 2020 Last updated 30 December 2020 — see all updates From: Department for International Trade Contents Trade agreements until 31 December 2020 […]

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