European Economic Area

Zone of economic cooperation between member states of the European Union (EU)) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which entered into force in 1994. In essence, the EEA extends the benefits of the single European market to the three non-EU EFTA states of Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. Switzerland, though a member of EFTA, rejected membership of the EEA in a referendum in 1992 (and also continued to reject membership of the EU in a referendum in March 2001).