Edited by Professor Graham Butler, Full Professor of Law, University of Southern Denmark.
Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, 2025.
ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-80392-245-4 (978 1 80392 245 4).
About:
This Research Handbook focuses on the internal market aspects of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) pillar of the European Economic Area (EEA). Leading academics, judges, and practitioners examine the EEA internal market in a structured and systematic manner. Throughout, they provide an in-depth analysis of the free movement and horizontal aspects of the EFTA pillar of the EEA.
Contributing authors in this Research Handbook firstly address the free movement of goods, persons (including workers and social security), services, establishment, capital and payments within the EFTA pillar. Secondly, they dissect the flanking policies that apply, including competition, state aid, banking, insurance, transport, intellectual property, consumer protection, and the environment. Third, the Research Handbook contains a number of critical reflections. Overall, it is a comprehensive examination based on EEA primary law, EEA secondary law, EFTA Surveillance Authority practice, and the EFTA Court’s case-law.
The Research Handbook on EEA Internal Market Law, providing authoritative and informative coverage, is essential reading for academics, judges, and students in all areas of European law across both the EU and EFTA pillars of the EEA. It is also a valuable resource for national and international civil servants, law firms, national courts, domestic policymakers, and private practitioners.
Outline Table of Contents:
Part I – Setting the Scene
The EEA Agreement: On Thirty Years of an Extended Internal Market
Graham Butler
Part II – Free Movement of Goods, Persons, and Workers
Free Movement of Goods
Georges Baur
State Monopolies of a Commercial Character
Marius Meling
Free Movement of Workers and Persons
Benedikt Pirker
Social Security Coordination
Kjartan Bjarni Björgvinsson
Part III – Freedom of Establishment, Free Movement of Services, and Capital
Freedom of Establishment
Hafsteinn Dan Kristjánsson
Freedom to Provide and Receive Services
Erlend M. Leonhardsen
Free Movement of Capital and Payments
Carsten Zatschler
Part IV – Select Policies
Competition
Ciarán Burke
State Aid
Jörgen Hettne
Finance, Banking, and Insurance
Magnus Schmauch
Transport
Dag Sørlie Lund
Intellectual Property
Graham Butler
Consumer Protection
M. Elvira Méndez Pinedo
Environment
Pål Wennerås
Part V – Reflections
Public and Private Enforcement
Ólafur Ísberg Hannesson
The Political Future of the EEA
John Erik Fossum
A View from the European Court of Human Rights
Arnfinn Bårdsen
A View from the EFTA Court
Ólafur Jóhannes Einarsson
Editor:
Graham Butler, Full Professor of Law, University of Southern Denmark.
Contributing Authors:
Georges Baur, Senior Research Fellow in Law, Liechtenstein-Institut, Bendern, Liechtenstein; former Deputy Secretary-General, EFTA, Brussels, Belgium; former Deputy Head of Mission of the Liechtenstein Mission to the EU, Brussels, Belgium.
Kjartan Bjarni Björgvinsson, Judge, Court of Appeal, Reykjavík, Iceland; former Judge, District Court of Reykjavík, Iceland; former Legal Secretary, EFTA Court, Luxembourg.
Ciarán Burke, Professor, Senior Research Fellow and former Chair of International Law, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany; Legal Officer, Internal Market Affairs Directorate, EFTA Surveillance Authority, Brussels, Belgium.
Graham Butler,Full Professor of Law, University of Southern Denmark.
Arnfinn Bårdsen, Vice-President and Judge, European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France; former Judge, Supreme Court of Norway, Oslo, Norway.
Ólafur Jóhannes Einarsson,Registrar, EFTA Court, Luxembourg; former Director, Internal Market Affairs Directorate, EFTA Surveillance Authority, Brussels, Belgium.
John Erik Fossum, Professor of Political Science, ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway.
Ólafur Ísberg Hannesson, Legal Secretary, EFTA Court, Luxembourg; former Legal Officer, EFTA Surveillance Authority, Brussels, Belgium.
Jörgen Hettne, Professor and Director, Centre for European Studies, Lund University, Sweden.
Hafsteinn Dan Kristjánsson, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland; Lecturer, Balliol College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Erlend M. Leonhardsen, Legal Adviser, Legal and Executive Affairs, EFTA Surveillance Authority, Brussels, Belgium; Adjunct Professor in International and European Law, Brussels School of Governance, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Dag Sørlie Lund, Judge, National Insurance Court, Oslo, Norway; formerly of Hjort, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo, Norway, the EFTA Court, Luxembourg, and the EFTA Surveillance Authority, Brussels, Belgium.
Marius Meling, Associate Lawyer, Deloitte Advokatfirma AS, Stavanger, Norway; former Legal Advisor, Agency for Public and Financial Management, Stavanger, Norway.
M. Elvira Méndez Pinedo, Professor of EU and EEA Law, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.
Benedikt Pirker, Legal Advisor, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Bern, Switzerland; Senior Lecturer in International Economic Law and EU Law, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Magnus Schmauch, Senior Counsel, Wigge & Partners Advokat KB, Stockholm, Sweden; former Senior Advisor, Financial Supervisory Authority, Stockholm, Sweden; former Legal Secretary, EFTA Court, Luxembourg.
Pål Wennerås, Judge, Borgarting Court of Appeal, Oslo, Norway; former Advocate, Office of the Attorney General, Oslo, Norway.
Carsten Zatschler, Senior Counsel, Bar of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland; Adjunct Full Professor, UCD Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, Ireland; Member, Board of Appeal, European Financial Supervisory Authorities (EBA, ESMA, EIOPA), France and Germany; former Member, Supervisory Committee, European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Brussels, Belgium; former Director of Legal and Executive Affairs, EFTA Surveillance Authority, Brussels, Belgium.
Butler, G (ed) 2025, Research Handbook on EEA Internal Market Law, Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham.
Reviews:
‘The EEA Agreement is one of the most difficult areas of law I have ever come across. One needs to understand not only EU law, but also the EFTA set-up and the quite unique rules that interlink those two disciplines. I welcome the contribution to the sparse literature on this topic.’
Niels Fenger, Judge, Court of Justice of the European Union, Luxembourg; former Parliamentary Ombudsman, Denmark
‘The EEA Agreement is truly unique in allowing three outsider countries to take full part in the EU’s internal market – the “holy grail” of EU cooperation. Few would have guessed its success (let alone survival) more than three decades later. The present book helps to explain how and why this is so, through comprehensive coverage of the core EEA internal market rules and select policies related thereto, and a fantastic line-up of contributors. It is an exceptionally welcome and timely addition to existing literature in the field, and well worth the read for anyone looking to understand the many peculiarities and intricacies of EEA substantive law.’
Christian Franklin, Professor and Director, Centre on the Europeanisation of Norwegian Law, University of Bergen, Norway
‘Over the past 30 years the interpretation and enforcement of the EEA Agreement has established an extensive, yet largely overlooked, body of law that has been central to the proper functioning of the EEA. With an impressive list of contributions from leading scholars, comprehensively analysing the EFTA Court’s rich jurisprudence on the substantive internal market components of EEA internal market law, this book is a triumph for its invaluable contribution to the subject.’
Robert Spano, partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, UK, and former President of the European Court of Human Rights, France.
‘EEA law remains a fascinating field of law, encompassing essential elements of EU law, but with a unique twist that flows from the distinctive features of the EEA Agreement itself. From the viewpoint of academia, I highly celebrate this book, which will immediately become a valuable resource in modern legal research. The strength of this comprehensive analysis of the topical and various elements of EEA internal market law lies not least in the contributors’ extensive and diverse experiences.’
Gunnar Þór Pétursson, Dean and Professor, Reykjavík University, Iceland; Judge ad hoc of the EFTA Court; and former Director of Internal Market Affairs Directorate, EFTA Surveillance Authority.
