European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

Table of Contents☰

About European Free Trade Association

It is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1960 by the Stockholm Convention.
Objective: Promotes free trade and economic integration between its members within Europe and globally.
Member Countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
The members of this organization are all open, competitive economies committed to the progressive liberalisation of trade in the multinational arena as well as in free trade agreements.
In contrast to the European Union (EU), it is not a customs union.
Governance
- Its highest governing body is the EFTA Council. It generally meets 8 times a year at the ambassadorial level and twice a year at the ministerial level.
- EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA): It monitors compliance with European Economic Area (EEA) rules in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
- EFTA Court: It is based in Luxembourg and has the competence and authority to settle internal and external disputes regarding the implementation, application or interpretation of the EEA agreement.
- The headquarters of the EFTA Secretariat is located in Geneva. It assists the EFTA Council in the management of relations between the 4 EFTA States and deals with the negotiation and operation of EFTA’s FTAs.

What is India’s concern?

Data exclusivity provisions will bar generic drug producers from using data of preclinical tests and clinical trials of former patent holders.
If generic medicine makers wish to introduce their version of an off-patent drug then they will have to either generate their own clinical data or wait for the exclusivity period to end.

Q1) What is a customs union?

It is an agreement between two or more countries to remove trade barriers and lower or eliminate tariffs. Members of a customs union generally apply a common external tariff on imports from non-member countries.

Source: India rejects EFTA’s data exclusivity demand in trade pact talks