The EEA Agreement creates a homogenous European Economic Area (EEA) based on common rules and equal conditions of competition. The EEA Agreement is dynamic, meaning it is continuously updated to incorporate EU legal acts that fall within the scope of the Agreement. This ensures common rules across the European Economic Area.
EU legal acts are incorporated into the EEA Agreement by Decisions of the EEA Joint Committee (JCDs) which place acts into one of the Annexes or Protocols to the Agreement.
The process of incorporation is described in depth in the EEA webtool. To verify if an EU is incorporated into the EEA Agreement, use EEA-Lex. On EEA-Lex you can also access information about the Joint Committee Decision which incorporated a given EU act, including whether it has entered into force, and into which Annex or Protocol to the EEA Agreement it was placed, if there are any EEA specific adaptations and verify whether any amendments to the act have been incorporated.
While the rules are common, provisions of legal acts that are made part of the EEA Agreement may need to be adjusted for the purpose of the EEA Agreement. This may be necessary because the scope and the institutional set-up of the EEA Agreement differ in certain respects from the EU, or because of the specific situation of an EFTA State. Such adjustments are referred to as adaptations. To read a legal act in the EEA context, it is necessary to find out what adaptations may apply.
An adaptation to an act provides that the act shall be read or understood in a specific way for the purposes of the EEA Agreement. Adaptations are most commonly used to make an act fit within the framework of the EEA Agreement. More information about adaptations.
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Adaptations in the EEA Agreement take one of three forms
It is useful to bear in mind that, although different in name, horizontal, sectoral and specific adaptations all produce the same legal effect in the sense that the act incorporated into the EEA Agreement has to be read in light of these adaptations.
Horizontal adaptations ( follow from Protocol 1 to the EEA Agreement)
A horizontal adaptation is an adaptation applicable to all acts incorporated into the 22 Annexes to EEA Agreement.
The horizontal adaptations are found in Protocol 1 to the EEA Agreement. The provisions of Protocols to the EEA Agreement may also stipulate that the horizontal adaptations in Protocol 1 shall apply, which is for example the case for Protocol 47.
Horizontal adaptations ensure that certain recurring or general matters are resolved without having to be addressed specifically for each individual act. The provisions of all acts incorporated into the EEA Agreement are read in accordance with the horizontal adaptations in Protocol 1. The horizontal adaptations may however be superseded by sectoral or specific adaptations of relevance to individual acts.
Overview of what Protocol 1 covers
| Paragraph | Description of coverage |
|---|---|
| 1 | Preambles of incorporated acts are not adapted under the EEA Agreement. Preambles are relevant to the extent necessary for the proper interpretation and application of an incorporated act in an EEA context. |
| 2 | Reference to the rights of the EFTA States to participate in EU committees (in particular comitology committees) covered by Articles 99-101 of and Protocol 31 to the EEA Agreement. |
| 3 | Provisions of incorporated acts on the amendment or adaptation of acts under EU law do not apply in the EEA. Only the EEA Joint Committee is competent to incorporate new acts or amend incorporated acts under Part VII of the EEA Agreement. |
| 4 | (a) Where EU Member States submit information to the Commission, EFTA States submit the same information to the EFTA Surveillance Authority, which informs the Standing Committee. The Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority exchange relevant information. (b) Where EU Member States submit information to other Member States, they also send it to the Commission which sends it to the Standing Committee. EFTA States submit the same information to the other EFTA States and to the Standing Committee, which sends it to the Commission for distribution to the EU Member States. → Read Section 3.2.4. of Adaptations Note – Paragraph 50 (c) Sectoral solutions for direct information exchange where rapid transfer is required. → Read Section 3.2.4. of Adaptations Note – Paragraph 52 (d) Administrative, executive and surveillance functions of the Commission in the EU pillar are to be carried out in the EFTA pillar according to procedures established by the EFTA States. The EFTA Surveillance Authority performs surveillance related functions. The Standing Committee performs tasks of a legislative character and certain administrative functions. |
| 5 | Reports or assessments prepared by EU bodies (e.g. Commission) in the EU pillar are prepared by the EFTA Surveillance Authority or the Standing Committee in the EFTA pillar. |
| 6 | (a) Information published by the EU Member States is published in a corresponding manner by the EFTA States. (b) Information published in the Official Journal regarding EU Member States is published in an EEA section of the Official Journal as regards the EFTA States. |
| 7 | Rights conferred and obligations imposed upon EU Member States or their public entities, undertakings or individuals are likewise conferred and imposed upon the corresponding actors in the EFTA States. |
| 8 | References to the territory of the EU in incorporated acts are understood as references to the territory of the EEA. |
| 9 | References to the nationals of EU Member States in incorporated acts are understood to also refer to nationals of the EFTA States. |
| 10 | Rights or obligations regarding the use of the official languages of the European Union in incorporated acts also include the official languages of the EFTA States (namely Icelandic and Norwegian). |
| 11 | Provisions on the entry into force or implementation of incorporated acts are not relevant. The entry into force of acts for the EEA Agreement follows from the entry into force of the JCD. If the act is already applicable in the EU when incorporated, then it becomes applicable in the EEA from the entry into force of the relevant Joint Committee Decision. Acts not yet applicable in the EU when they are incorporated will become applicable on the date foreseen in the act, i.e. at the same time in the EEA and in the EU. However, in both instances, the relevant JCD may provide another date of application or transitional arrangements. |
| 12 | Provisions on the addressees of EU acts are not relevant under the EEA Agreement. |
Sectoral adaptations ( are found in specific Annexes and Protocols to the EEA Agreement)
Each of the 22 Annexes to the EEA Agreement covers a specific sector, or area of law (e.g. Energy, Social Security, Financial Services, etc). A sectoral adaptation is an adaptation applicable to all acts within an Annex or a Chapter of an Annex.
Sectoral adaptations address challenges which arise frequently within specific sectors of legislation (such as the relevance of legislation within a particular sector to a specific EFTA State or the tasks of an EU agency under the EEA Agreement) and which are not already covered by the horizontal adaptations in Protocol 1. Acts incorporated into the Annex or Chapter of an Annex to which a sectoral adaptation applies are adapted accordingly. Where a sectoral adaptation applies, it is not necessary to repeat it in specific adaptations to individual acts within the same Annex or Chapter of an Annex.
Sectoral adaptations can be found in Annexes I (and Chapters I, II and III thereof), II (and Chapters XII, XIII and XXVII thereof), V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XIX, XX, XXI and XXII and Protocol 47 to the EEA Agreement.
Specific adaptations (apply to individual acts)
Specific adaptations specify how an individual act shall be read for the purposes of the EEA Agreement.
Specific adaptations are sometimes made to individual EU acts when they are incorporated into the EEA Agreement. By adopting the JCD containing adaptations, the EFTA States and the EU agree that the EU act concerned is to be read differently for the purposes of the EEA Agreement than it would in a pure EU context.
Depending on the effect pursued, specific adaptations can either set out general rules as to how the EU act as whole shall be read in the EEA context, or they can foresee adjustments to specific provisions of the act.
Specific adaptations are included in the JCD incorporating the respective EU act and reproduced together with the reference to the EU act in the respective Annex or Protocol. The specific adaptation(s) made to an EU act can therefore be found in the respective Annex or Protocol together with the EU act that it/they adapt.
Specific adaptations are introduced by the following sentence immediately following the EU act they adapt:
“The provisions of the [Regulation/Directive/Decision] shall, for the purposes of this Agreement, be read with the following adaptation[s]:”
In summary, to read EU legal acts incorporated into the EEA Agreement, you need to take the following steps:
- Is the EU act incorporated and in force in the EEA Agreement?
- Check the horizontal adaptations in Protocol 1.
- Are there sectoral adaptations of relevance in the Annex or Protocol where the act is incorporated?
- Are there specific adaptations to this act?
