Editing European Free Trade Association (section)

===History===
[[File:EFTA AELE countries and former members.svg|thumb|{{legend|#276d3a|EFTA member states}}{{legend|#b3d9b4|Former members, which left to join the EU}}{{legend|#808080|Rest of EU member states}}|left]]
On 12 January 1960, the Convention establishing the European Free Trade Association was initiated in the [[Golden Hall (Stockholm City Hall)|Golden Hall]] of the [[Stockholm City Hall]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://prezi.com/zh9hxdbmm2jc/european-free-trade-association/ |title=European Free Trade Association by Shobicka Mehanathan on Prezi |publisher=Prezi.com |access-date=8 May 2017}}</ref> This established the progressive elimination of customs duties on industrial products, but did not affect agricultural or fisheries products.

The main difference between the early EEC and the EFTA was that the latter did not operate common external customs [[tariff]]s unlike the former: each EFTA member was free to establish its individual customs duties against, or its individual free trade agreements with, non-EFTA countries.

The founding members of the EFTA were: Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. During the 1960s, these countries were often referred to as the "[[Inner_Six#Inner_Six_and_Outer_Seven|Outer Seven]]", as opposed to the [[Inner Six]] of the then [[European Economic Community]] (EEC).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Finland: Now, the Seven and a Half |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=7 April 1961 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874317,00.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104144427/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874317,00.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 November 2011 |access-date=18 July 2009}}</ref>

[[Finland]] became an associate member in 1961 and a full member in 1986, and Iceland joined in 1970. The United Kingdom and Denmark joined the EEC in 1973 and hence ceased to be EFTA members. Portugal also left EFTA for the [[European Community]] in 1986. Liechtenstein joined the EFTA in 1991 (previously its interests had been represented by Switzerland). [[1995 enlargement of the European Union|Austria, Sweden, and Finland joined the EU in 1995]] and thus ceased to be EFTA members.

Twice, in [[1972 Norwegian European Communities membership referendum|1972]] and in [[1994 Norwegian European Union membership referendum|1994]], the [[Norwegian government]] had tried to join the EU (still the EEC, in 1973) and by doing so, leave the EFTA. However, both the times, the membership of the EU was rejected in national referendums, keeping Norway in the EFTA. Iceland [[Accession of Iceland to the European Union|applied for EU membership in 2009]] due to the [[2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis]], but has since dropped its bid.<ref>{{cite news|author=AFP in Reykjavik |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/12/iceland-drops-european-union-membership-bid |title=Iceland drops EU membership bid: 'interests better served outside' union |newspaper=The Guardian |date=12 March 2015 |access-date=17 August 2016}}</ref>