30 Years of the Economic European Area; a Tax Law Perspective

Abstract

In 2024, the European Economic Area (EEA) will have existed for thirty years. During that time, the EEA Agreement has served its cause to enlarge the European internal market to Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Covering fundamental freedoms that need to be interpreted comparably to the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU’s (TFEU’s) fundamental freedoms, a significant amount of case law interpreting the EEA Agreement’s fundamental freedoms has been established from both the CJEU and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Court. The author attempts to elucidate the approach taken by both courts to come to judgments creating a homogenous interpretation and application of EU law to the largest possible extent. Besides that, the extension of EU directives to cover EEA situations is relevant. The EEA Agreement foresees a procedure for that, but it does not thus far cover substantive direct tax directives. The author argues that some arguments still exist following which EU direct tax directives should actually be added to the EEA Agreement.