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The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The organization operates in parallel with the European Union (EU), and all four member states participate in the European Single Market and are part of the Schengen Area. They are not, however, party to the European Union Customs Union.
Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to standardise units in France, when a length standard taken from a natural source was proposed. This led to the creation of the decimal-based metric system in 1795, establishing a set of standards for other types of measurements. Several other countries adopted the metric system between 1795 and 1875; to ensure conformity between the countries, the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) was established by the Metre Convention. This has evolved into the International System of Units (SI) as a result of a resolution at the 11th Conference Generale des Poids et Mesures (CGPM) in 1960.
The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the Agreement on the European Economic Area, an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Association. The EEA links the EU member states and three EFTA states into an internal market governed by the same basic rules. These rules aim to enable free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital within the European Single Market, including the freedom to choose residence in any country within this area. The EEA was established on 1 January 1994 upon entry into force of the EEA Agreement. The contracting parties are the EU, its member states, and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
CE marking is an administrative marking that indicates conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards for products sold within the European Economic Area (EEA). The CE marking is also found on products sold outside the EEA that have been manufactured to EEA standards. This makes the CE marking recognizable worldwide even to people who are not familiar with the European Economic Area. It is in that sense like the FCC Declaration of Conformity used for selling certain electronic devices in the United States.
The International Organization of Legal Metrology, is an intergovernmental organization that was created in 1955 to promote the global harmonization of the legal metrology procedures that underpin and facilitate international trade.
The Energy Community, also referred to in the past as the Energy Community of South East Europe, is an international organisation established between the European Union (EU) and a number of third countries to extend the EU internal energy market to Southeast Europe and beyond. With their signatures, the Contracting Parties commit themselves to implement the relevant EU energy acquis communautaire, to develop an adequate regulatory framework and to liberalise their energy markets in line with the acquis under the Treaty.
Directive 2014/65/EU is a legal act of the European Union. Together with Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 it provides a legal framework for securities markets, investment intermediaries and trading venues. The directive provides harmonised regulation for investment services of the member states of the European Economic Area - the EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein; the United Kingdom will continue to implement the directive during the transition period. Its main objectives are to increase competition and investor protection, and level the playing field for market participants in investment services. It repeals Directive 2004/39/EC.
The Brussels Regime is a set of rules regulating which courts have jurisdiction in legal disputes of a civil or commercial nature between individuals resident in different member states of the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). It has detailed rules assigning jurisdiction for the dispute to be heard and governs the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.
The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) is an international organisation with its permanent secretariat in Vienna. It was established by the Danube River Protection Convention, signed by the Danube countries in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1994.
EURAMET is a collaborative alliance of national metrological organizations from member states of the European Union (EU) and of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) whose purpose is to achieve higher efficiency by co-ordinating and sharing metrological activities and services.
There are a number of microstates in Europe. While there is no clear consensus on which political units qualify as "microstates", most scholars view Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City as examples of such states. At the same time, some academics dispute even qualifying Vatican as a true state arguing that it does not meet the "traditional criteria of statehood" and that the "special status of the Vatican City is probably best regarded as a means of ensuring that the Pope can freely exercise his spiritual functions, and in this respect is loosely analogous to that of the headquarters of international organisations." According to the qualitative definition of microstates suggested by Dumienski (2014), microstates can also be viewed as "modern protected states, i.e. sovereign states that have been able to unilaterally depute certain attributes of sovereignty to larger powers in exchange for benign protection of their political and economic viability against their geographic or demographic constraints." And indeed, all of the European microstates are sovereign states that function in a close association with their respective larger neighbour. Currently, all of the European microstates have some form of relations with the European Union (EU).
The Measuring Instruments Directive 2014/32/EU, is a directive by the European Union, which seeks to harmonise many aspects of legal metrology across all member states of the EU. Its most prominent tenet is that all kinds of meters which receive a MID approval may be used in all countries across the EU.
The Citizens’ Rights Directive 2004/38/EC defines the right of free movement for citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the member states of the European Union (EU) and the three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Switzerland, which is a member of EFTA but not of the EEA, is not bound by the Directive but rather has a separate bilateral agreement on free movement with the EU.
The European driving licence is a driving licence which replaced the various driving licence styles formerly in use in the member states of the European Economic Area (EEA). The licence is currently issued by all of the EEA member states; all 27 EU member states and three EFTA member states; Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It is credit card-style with a photograph and a microchip. They were introduced to replace the 110 different plastic and paper driving licences of the 300 million drivers in the EEA. The main objective of the licence is to reduce the risk of fraud.
European Union (EU) concepts, acronyms, and jargon are a terminology set that has developed as a form of shorthand, to quickly express a (formal) EU process, an (informal) institutional working practice, or an EU body, function or decision, and which is commonly understood among EU officials or external people who regularly deal with EU institutions.
The LIFE Programme is the European Union’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation by co-financing projects with European added value.
An International Motor Insurance Card System is an arrangement between authorities and insurance organizations of multiple states to ensure that victims of road traffic accidents do not suffer from the fact that injuries or damage sustained by them were caused by a visiting motorist rather than a motorist resident in the same country.
Market surveillance for products ensures that products on the market conform to applicable laws and regulations. This helps to foster trust among consumers buying products or financial services and protects consumers and professionals from harm from non-compliant products. It also helps companies that comply to stay in business and avoid losing market share to rogue traders.
References
- ↑ "WELMEC – An Introduction" (PDF). WELMEC. pp. 3, 4. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- 1 2 "WELMEC". UK National Measurement Office. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ↑ "WELMEC Information". WELMEC. Retrieved 3 February 2013.