AGREEMENT

between the European Union, Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Kingdom of Norway on an EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021

THE EUROPEAN UNION,

ICELAND,

THE PRINCIPALITY OF LIECHTENSTEIN,

THE KINGDOM OF NORWAY,

WHEREAS the Parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (‘EEA Agreement’) agreed on the need to reduce the economic and social disparities between their regions with a view to promoting a continuous and balanced strengthening of trade and economic relations between them,

WHEREAS, in order to contribute to that objective, the EFTA States have established a Financial Mechanism in the context of the European Economic Area,

WHEREAS the provisions governing the EEA Financial Mechanism for the period 2004-2009 have been set out in Protocol 38a and the Addendum to Protocol 38a to the EEA Agreement,

WHEREAS the provisions governing the EEA Financial Mechanism for the period 2009-2014 have been set out in Protocol 38b and the Addendum to Protocol 38b to the EEA Agreement,

WHEREAS the need to alleviate economic and social disparities within the European Economic Area persists, and therefore a new mechanism for the financial contributions of the EEA EFTA States should be established for the period 2014-2021,

HAVE DECIDED TO CONCLUDE THE FOLLOWING AGREEMENT:

Article 1

The text of Article 117 of the EEA Agreement shall be replaced by the following:

Article 2

A new Protocol 38c shall be inserted after Protocol 38b to the EEA Agreement. The text of Protocol 38c is provided for in the Annex to this Agreement.

Article 3

This Agreement shall be ratified or approved by the Parties in accordance with their own procedures. The instruments of ratification or approval shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union.

It shall enter into force on the first day of the second month after the last instrument of ratification or approval has been deposited.

Pending the completion of the procedures referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, this Agreement shall be applied on a provisional basis as from the first day of the first month following the deposit of the last notification to this effect.

Article 4

This Agreement, drawn up in a single original in the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Icelandic and Norwegian languages, the text in each of these languages being equally authentic, shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, which will remit a certified copy to each of the Parties to this Agreement.