Posted on 10 September 2015
A first transfer of archives from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) has recently arrived at the Historical Archives of the European Union.
The 45 boxes arriving in Florence contained bound volumes (circa 27 linear meters) consisting of EFTA’s official documents from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. The documents were transferred from Geneva to Florence after the signature of a deposit agreement between EFTA and the HAEU on 8 January 2015.
The deposit contains the official minutes of the Association along with files from the management boards and the Industrial Development and Economic Committee and documents by the Committee of Trade Experts. The collection is also composed of documents from the member countries, notes to their delegations, archives on the EFTA relations with third countries and the decisions of the EFTA Council from 1960 to 1984.
The European Free Trade Association was founded in 1960 by Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom as a free trade organization offering an alternative to the European Economic Community (EEC) which would later become the European Union (EU). After the accession of Denmark and the United Kingdom to the EEC in 1973 and Portugal, Austria Finland and Sweden to the EU in later years, its current members are Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.
The decision by the EFTA to deposit their archival material at the HAEU holdings in Villa Salviati allows the Archives to complement their collections with a new approach on international economic and trade relations and alliances in Europe during the 1960s until the late 1980s.
A second transfer of documents is due to arrive in Florence later this year. After archival treatment the fonds will be open for consultation in early 2016.