Members of the parliamentary EFTA/EU Delegation will attend the Spring Confer-ence of the EFTA Court on 3 June 2016 in Luxembourg. After the conference, the delegation members will have the opportunity to meet informally with Professor Carl Baudenbacher, President of the EFTA Court, and other judges.

On 3 June 2016, National Council members Kathy Riklin (CVP/ZH) and Hans-Peter Portmann (FDP/ZH) and Council of States member Konrad Graber (CVP/LU) will attend the Spring Conference of the EFTA Court, where the topic will be "The EFTA Court as a European Single Market Court". Although the conference is devoted to issues of competition law, state aid law, capital market law and labour law, it will also offer an opportunity to find out more about how the EFTA Court works.

The EFTA Court is mainly competent to deal with infringement actions brought by the EFTA Surveillance Authority against an EFTA State with regard to the implementation, application or interpretation of EEA law rules, for giving advisory opinions to courts in EFTA States on the interpretation of EEA rules and for appeals concerning decisions taken by the EFTA Surveillance Authority.

In the current negotiations on a framework agreement defining new rules of procedure and conduct governing Switzerland’s selective participation in the European internal market, a major issue is the organisation of the dispute resolution procedure. The Federal Council’s negotiating mandate of 18 December 2013 provides that in the event of disputes both Switzerland and the EU could submit questions on the interpretation of EU law arising from a market access agreement to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The members of the EFTA/EU-Delegation are following these discussions with interest and held talks on 16/17 November 2015 with the presidents of the CJEU and the EFTA Court on the possible form of the dispute resolution procedure. On 25 May 2016, the members of the EFTA/EU Delegation also met a high-ranking delegation from the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, led by Supreme Court President Gilbert Kolly, to discuss this and other issues. At the meeting, talks also covered the relationship between national and international law and the constitutional implications of ratifying the Croatia Protocol in view of the terms of Article 121a of the Federal Constitution.


Luxembourg, 2 June 2016 Parliamentary Services