Introduction to the EFTA Court

The European Economic Area (EEA)

The aim of the EEA Agreement is to guarantee the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital; to provide equal conditions of competition and to abolish discrimination on grounds of nationality in all 30 EEA States – the 27 EU States and 3 of the EFTA States. By removing barriers to trade and opening up new opportunities for almost 400 million Europeans, the EEA will stimulate economic growth and add to the international competitiveness of the EEA States.
The successful operation of the EEA depends upon uniform implementation and application of the common rules in all EEA States. To this end, a two-pillar system of supervision has been devised: the EU Member States are supervised by the EC Commission and the EFTA States party to the EEA by the EFTA Surveillance Authority. The latter has been given powers corresponding to those of the Commission in the exercise of its surveillance role.
A two-pillar structure has also been established in respect of judicial control; the EFTA Court operates in parallel to the Court of Justice of the European Communities.

The EFTA Court

The EFTA Court has jurisdiction with regard to EFTA States which are parties to the EEA Agreement (at present Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). The Court is mainly competent to deal with infringement actions brought by the EFTA Surveillance Authority against an EFTA State with regard to the implementation, application or interpretation of an EEA rule, for the settlement of disputes between two or more EFTA States, for appeals concerning decisions taken by the EFTA Surveillance Authority and for giving advisory opinions to courts in EFTA States on the interpretation of EEA rules. Thus the jurisdiction of the EFTA Court mainly corresponds to the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Communities over EC States.
The proceedings before the EFTA Court consist of a written part and an oral part and all proceedings will be in English except in cases where an advisory opinion is sought by a national court of an EFTA State party to the EEA. In the latter case, the opinion of the Court will be in English and in the national language of the requesting court.

Organisation

The EFTA Court consists of three Judges, one nominated by each of the EFTA States party to the EEA Agreement. The Judges are appointed by common accord of the Governments for a period of six years. The Judges elect their President for a term of three years.
The Judges are:

Carl Baudenbacher (Liechtenstein) - President

Páll Hreinsson (Iceland)

Per Christiansen (Norway)

In addition to the regular Judges, a system of ad hoc judges is established according to Article 30, fourth paragraph, of the ESA/Court Agreement for situations where a regular Judge cannot act in a particular case.
The ad hoc judges are:

Nominated by Iceland:

Ms Áslaug Björgvinsdóttir, héraðsdómari, (District Court Judge)

Mr Benedikt Bogason, dómstjóri (Chief Judge) 

Nominated by Liechtenstein:

Ms Nicole Kaiser, Rechtsanwältin (lawyer)

Mr Martin Ospelt, Rechtsanwält (lawyer) 

Nominated by Norway: 

Mr Ola Mestad, professor

Ms Bjørg Ven, advokat (lawyer)

The Registrar, responsible for the administration of the Court and for certain procedural and other issues, is Skúli Magnússon.
In addition to the three Judges and the Registrar, the Court has presently a staff of 10 persons who provide the legal and administrative assistance for the Court.
The Court remains permanently in session. The Court will sit only in plenary session and its decisions are taken by majority vote. The procedure followed by the Court is laid down in the Statute of the EFTA Court and in its Rules of Procedure.