International Tax Law and the EEA/EFTA

Abstract

Abstract This chapter studies international tax law and the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The EFTA was founded in 1960 as a free-trade zone and was intended to be an alternative economic integration to the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEA was established based on the EEA Agreement, which was concluded in Porto on 2 May 1992, by the then seven EFTA member states and the then twelve member states of the European Community (EC). It was designed as a mechanism to allow EFTA member states to actively participate in the process of the European economic integration by having full access to the internal market without transferring any political competences to the EU bodies. Currently, the EEA comprises twenty-seven EU member states and the three EEA EFTA states—Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. The chapter then looks at the principles of taxation in the EEA.