ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(78)287
Vol.1978/0106

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COMMISSION DESCOMMUNAUTES EUROPEENNES
COM(78)287final.
Bruxelles,le21juin.1978.
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COMMUNICATION DELACOMMISSION AUCONSEIL
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CCK(78)287final

COMMISSION COMMUNICATION TOTHE COUNCIL
ON
RELATIONS BETWEEN THE COMMUNITY AND THE EFTA
COUNTRIES
1. At "theendof "theVienna Conference ,held on13May1977 ,"theHeads
ofState orGovernments oftheEFTA countries who attended the Conference
issued aDeclaration inwhich they expressed their desire tosafeguard
what had "been achieved under thefree trade' Agreements ,toextend their
scope andtodevelop cooperation with theEuropean Community outside the
fields covered "bytheAgreements ,
2. Inaletter sent on21June 1977 "totheAustrian Chancellor ,
M.Kreisky ,"byMrDavid Owen ,whowasthen President oftheCouncil of
theEuropean Communities ,itwas stated that theCommunity considered the
free trade Agreements to "befunctioning satisfactorily .
3. Cooperation "between theCommunity andtheEFTA oountries hasdeveloped
through the exchange ofinformation andthrough theconclusion ofagree­
ments "between theCommunity andindividual EFTA countries .
This cooperation ,which has "been informal andpragmatic inthefirst
instance "butmore formal inthesecond ,hasproduced excellent results ,
4* Cooperation will henceforth "besetagainst a'background ofinescapable
eoonomic interdependence andashared interest inpreventing theintensi­
fication oftheprotectionist tendencies "brought into "being "bystagnation
ofgrowth andvery high unemployment "being experienced inmost European
countries .
Moreover ,theprospect offurther enlargement oftheCommunity means
that trade flows inEurope will have to "beadapted .Asfarasindustrial
products areconcerned ,enlargement will extend free movement ofgoods to
thewhole ofWestern Europe .
«9*,/2

Thedeepening ofrelations "between -theCommunity andeach oftheEFTA
countries ,which havestated thattheyareinfavour ofthedevelopment of
cooperation withtheCommunity "invarying degrees ofintensity "(see
point 4oftheDeclaration issued attheendoftheVienna Conference ),
calls forathorough technical andpolitical examination ofthevarious
areas ofmutual interest where such cooperation isfeasible .
Intheca3e oftrade ,such anexamination could "beoarried out
fruitfully inthenextfewmonths ,against the "background oftheMultila /-
teral Trade Negotiations andthenewapplications foraccession .
TheDeclaration issued attheendoftheVienna Conference of13May
1977referred ,moreover ,totheEFTAcountries' concern thattheadvanta­
gesderiving fromfreetrade should not "bejeopardized asaresult of
diverging economic developments andpolioies (seeDeclaration ,Point 4)• ,
Inthis context theCommunity could examine ways ofcooperating more
closely with theEFTA countries through theexchange ofinformation on'
medium–term economic policy ,inparticular inthefields ofeoonomic
forecasting andmonetary policy .
Astudy should also "bemade ofpossible ways ofdeepening relations
with theEFTA countries incertain fields ,notaloly "byfurther facilitating
thefree movement ofindustrial products .
Itshould "bestated that thewishes expressed "bytheEFTA countries
include adesire toseetherules oforigin contained inProtocol No3to
theAgreements improved andtheprocess ofremoving technical "barriers to
trade speeded up.
Where these problems areconcerned ,theCommunity willhave toensure
thatthehomogeneity ofitscommercial policy vis-^-visnon-member countries
ismaintained .
There would "bescope forcloser cooperation with theEFTA countries m
thesearch forsolutions otproblems ofmutxial conoern inindustry .
.../3

Inthisfield,mutualinterestrequiresthatefforts "bemade"bothto
avoidprotectionist solutionsandtofaceuptotheproblemsofmarket
rationalization inanumberofsectorsthatareexperiencing seriousdif­
ficulties,acoountalsobeingtakenofunemployment problems,andofthe
respectiveaids.
CertainEFTAandCommunitycountriesattachimportancetoproblems
–namelyaccesstopubliccontractsonbothsidesandexportrestrictions –
whichhavenotyetbeenexaminedinthecontextofpreferential relations
betweentheCommunityandtheEFTAcountriesconcerned.
Cooperation betweentheCommunityandtheEFTAcountrieshasalready
beenintensifiedincertainareas,suchastheenvironmental andtransport
fields.
Withregardtoenvironmental matters,anumberofexchangesofinfor­
mationhavetakenplacebetweentheCommission'sdepartments andthose
EFTAcountrieswhichhavesofarrequestedthem,thecriterionofmutual
interestbeinginvariablyobserved.Thedetailedarrangements forsuch
exchangesofinformation werelaiddowninexchangesofletterssigned
withSwitzerland (12December1975)»Sweden(9March1978)and-Austria
(28April1978)«Therehavealsobeenoontactsatatechnicallevelwith
Norway.
Inthetransportfieldadistinction mustbemadebetweenthecouit-
triesthatare"land–locked"bytheCommunityandlinkedveryclosely
fromthetransitangle,namelyAustriaandSwitzerland ,andtheNordic
countries(Norway,Sweden),forwhichseatransportisofparticular
importance.
Increasedoooperationwiththeformermightproveuseful,particularly
withaviewtoachievingsomedegreeofcoordination betweentherespecti­
vetransportpoliciesandmakingthemmorecomplementary tooneanother.
Suchcooperationmightbeooncernedwithproblemsofcommoninterestin
thefieldsoftransportbyroad,railandinlandwaterwayandtransport
infrastructure .
InthecaseofNordiocountries,exchangesofinformationnotonly
meettheneedtounderstandtherespectivepoliciesbetter,butalsomake
itpossibletocoordinatetheminthemutualinterestvis-a-visother
••«/4

countries (e.g. Easter*>-bloc oountries in "this case )andwithin theframe­
work ofmultilateral organizations (e.g. UNCTAD ).
10. Inthefield ofscientific andtechnical research ,cooperation isal­
ready well established inmultilateral forums such asCOST ,inwhich the
Community andtheEFTA countries arerepresented along with other Western
European countries .
With regard todevelopment aid ,there isinformal andpragmatio coope­
ration intheform of "bilateral exchanges ofinformation (e.g. Sweden ,
Norway )anddiscussions within multilateral frameworks (North~South
Dialogue ,TJNCTAD ).
Work iri.?methods
11.Cooperation with theEFTA countries in"varying degrees ofintensity "
-ascalled for "bythose oountries intheDeclaration issued attheend
oftheVienna Conference of13May1977~already exists andcould develop
further atthree separate levels :
(1)informal andpragmatio contacts with theEECCommission j
(2)theframing ofCommunity positions "bytherelevant Council working
parties ;
(3)thenegotiation ofactual agreements ,forwhich theCommission has ,
tohegiven negotiating directives "bytheCouncil .
Thearrangements concluded with theEFTA countries concerning trade
iniron andsteel products areanexample ofcooperation through nego­
tiation .Inaddition ,theCommission 'sdepartments andtheEFTA
Secretariat –General normally meet twice yearly atthetechnical level .
There arealso meetings held atsimilar intervals "between representatives
oftheEconomic andSocial Committee 'sSection forExternal Relations and
representatives of "business andlabour oftheEFTA member countries .
CONCLUSIONS
12. TheCommission proposes "tha't "theCooxnoil i
(i)inthesphere ofrelations "between theCommunity andtheEFTA
countries ,indicate itsagreement asregards thedesirability
ofimproving andextending thescope ofthetechnical operation
oftheAgreements inanyareas where this isnecessary }
.../5

(ii)approvetheprinciplesandmethodsofcooperationoutsidethe
fieldscovered "bythefreetradeAgreements,inthemutualinterest
ofContractingParties.
TheCommission undertakestoinformtheCounciloftheresultsofsuch
cooperation.