A Court of Justice of the EFTA States, hereinafter referred to as the `EFTA Court`, is hereby established. It shall operate in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement and the EEA Agreement. In most of its cases, the EFTA Court has been confronted with legal issues that have not (or at least not completely) been decided by the CJEU. The EEA Agreement does not contain any written provisions that would oblige the ECJ to take into account the case law of the EFTA Court of Justice when interpreting EU or EEA law. In practice, however, the two EU courts (CJEU and CED) have referred to the case law of the EFTA Court. As regards the interpretation of EEA law, the Courts of the European Union have referred to judgments of the EFTA Court of Justice on the legal nature of the EEA Agreement, the principle of State responsibility under EEA law, the free movement of goods and the freedom of establishment. Judgments are signed by the President and the Registrar. They shall be read in open session. REAFFIRMING that the EFTA Surveillance Authority and the Commission of the European Communities cooperate, exchange information and consult each other on surveillance policy and that, in individual cases, each judge shall take an oath in open court, exercise his functions impartially and conscientiously and respect the secrecy of the deliberations of the Court of Justice. No judge may participate in the settlement of a case in which he has previously participated as an agent or adviser or worked for one of the parties or in which he is required to rule as a member of a court, commission of inquiry or in any other capacity. If, for a particular reason, a judge considers that he should not participate in the decision or examination of a particular case, he shall inform the President of the Court accordingly.
If, for any reason, the President considers that a judge should not sit in a particular case, he shall inform him accordingly. Difficulties in the application of this Article shall be resolved in accordance with Article 30(4) of this Agreement. In accordance with Article 30, paragraph 4, of the Convention, where a judge is not participating in a particular case under this Article, he shall be chosen from among the persons on the list appointed by the Government to appoint the ordinary judge to be replaced. A party may not request a change in the composition of the Court of Justice on the basis of the nationality of a judge or the absence of a judge of that party at the Court of Justice. RECALLING the objective of the Contracting Parties to the EEA Agreement to achieve and maintain, with full respect for the independence of the courts, a uniform interpretation and application of the EEA Agreement and the provisions of Community law essentially reproduced in that Agreement and to achieve equal treatment of individuals and economic operators as regards the four freedoms and conditions of competition, According to the settled case-law of the EFTA Court, the provisions of the EEA Agreement are intended for the benefit of individuals and economic operators throughout the European Economic Area and the proper functioning of the EEA Agreement depends on the possibility for those persons and economic operators to rely on the rights before the national courts of the EFTA States which are members of the EEA. The EFTA Court has jurisdiction over the EFTA States which are Contracting Parties to the EEA Agreement (currently Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). The Court of Justice has primary jurisdiction to hear and determine actions for failure to fulfil obligations brought by the EFTA Surveillance Authority against an EFTA State with a view to the application, application or interpretation of EEA legislation, the issuing of opinions before the courts of the EFTA States on the interpretation of EEA rules and appeals against decisions of the EFTA Surveillance Authority. Thus, the jurisdiction of the EFTA Court largely corresponds to that of the Court of Justice of the European Union vis-à-vis the EU States. The procedure before the EFTA Court consists of a written part and an oral part and is conducted in English. In direct actions, the judgment is rendered only in English. Opinions shall be drawn up in English and in the language of the requesting court. An independent surveillance authority among the EFTA States, the EFTA Surveillance Authority, is hereby established.
In accordance with Article 108(2) of the EEA Agreement of 2 May 1992[1], the EFTA States participating in the EEA Agreement establish a Court of Justice. This obligation was fulfilled with the conclusion of the Supervisory and Judicial Agreement (CSA), cf. art. 27. [2] The EFTA Court was originally designed for the seven EFTA States at the time, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. On 1 January 1994, with the entry into force of the EEA Agreement, the EFTA Court took up its duties with five judges appointed by Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Switzerland was unable to ratify the EEA Agreement due to a negative referendum. Liechtenstein postponed its accession until 1 May 1995 and in 1995 Austria, Finland and Sweden left EFTA and joined the EU. May 1992) and takes due account of the principles set out in the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities after that date.
The case law of the EFTA Court is based on the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The politically important distinction between the old and new case law of the CJEU is largely nuanced in practice. .