CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 110 of 120

Correct — D, England. The European Free Trade Association was created by the Stockholm Convention of 1960 as an alternative to the European Economic Community for states that wanted free trade without political integration. Today it has exactly four members — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Norway and Switzerland are founder members from 3 May 1960, Iceland joined on 1 January 1970 and Liechtenstein on 1 September 1991. The United Kingdom was one of the original seven, but it left on 1 January 1973 when it joined the European Communities, and it has not rejoined since Brexit; England, in any case, is a constituent nation of the United Kingdom and not a state that could hold membership in its own right. India signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement with the four EFTA states on 10 March 2024, the first Indian trade agreement to carry a binding investment-promotion commitment; the agreement came into force on 1 October 2025.

• (a)Switzerland — A founder member since 1960 and EFTA's largest economy; the association's main secretariat is in Geneva.
• (b)Norway — Also a founder member from 1960, and the largest EFTA member by population.
• (c)Iceland — A member since 1 January 1970.

EFTA is a four-country free trade bloc distinct from the European Union. Three of its members — Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — are also in the European Economic Area, which extends much of the EU single market to them; Switzerland stays outside the Area and deals with the EU through a set of bilateral agreements. EFTA negotiates trade agreements as a bloc, which is why India's agreement is with all four states at once.

The odd-one-out here is odd twice over: England has never been an EFTA member in its own name, and the United Kingdom, of which it is part, left half a century ago. The trap works on a vague memory that Britain was involved at the start, which is true but historical. The safer route is to hold the current list of four and to remember that it contains no large economy other than Switzerland. On the India side, the agreement is the current-affairs anchor: signed on 10 March 2024, six months before this paper, and carrying an investment commitment of USD 100 billion over fifteen years with a target of a million jobs. Worth flagging: UPSC has not released a key for this paper, and some answer keys in circulation mark (a), Switzerland. Switzerland is a founding member of the grouping, so this card takes (d).

• EFTA members: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland.
• Founded by the Stockholm Convention of 1960; the United Kingdom and Denmark left in 1973 on joining the European Communities.
• Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are in the European Economic Area; Switzerland is not.
• India and EFTA signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement on 10 March 2024; it entered into force on 1 October 2025.

• Counting the United Kingdom as an EFTA member because it was a founder.
• Treating England, Scotland or Wales as states capable of membership.
• Assuming all EFTA members are in the European Economic Area — Switzerland is not.

As a which-country-is-not-a-member item, or as a current-affairs question on a trade agreement India has signed and with whom.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  India signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement with EFTA in which month and year?

  • (a)March 2024
  • (b)July 2023
  • (c)January 2025
  • (d)September 2022

  Answer(a) March 2024 — signed on 10 March 2024 with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which EFTA member state is NOT part of the European Economic Area?

  • (a)Iceland
  • (b)Liechtenstein
  • (c)Norway
  • (d)Switzerland

  Answer(d) Switzerland — it stayed out after a 1992 referendum and deals with the European Union through bilateral agreements instead.