Foreign Affairs CommitteeWritten evidence from Erna Hjaltested, Senior Legal Officer, EEA Co-ordination Division, EFTA

1. You are indeed correct that the EEA Agreement only provides for two ways for a state to be a contracting party to the EEA Agreement, either by being a Member State of the EU or a member of EFTA. As the Agreement stands today, it is therefore not possible to become a party to the EEA Agreement without being a member of either EU or EFTA.

2. With regard to possible amendments of the EEA Agreement, Article 98 of the EEA Agreement states which parts of the EEA Agreement can be amended by a decision of the EEA Joint Committee. Article 102 EEA then lays down the procedure and the general principles for incorporation of new EU legislation. For other amendments, the Agreement does not contain any specific provisions as you rightly state. Hence, any other amendments, such as an amendment of the main agreement, is subject to new negotiations between the Contracting Parties.

14 January 2013