Following the adoption of an EU act, EFTA experts in the EEA-EFTA states examine whether the act is relevant to the EEA and, if so, whether adjustments to the EEA agreement are necessary and whether there are likely to be constitutional requirements (see item 14 for the other constitutional requirements). An act is considered to be within the EEA when its content relates to an area covered by the EEA agreement. Once the EFTA secretariat has received feedback from the three EEA-EFTA states on these issues, it develops a JCD. If the JCD project has been approved by both EFTA experts and the relevant subcommittee, it is forwarded to the EEAS, which is launching an inter-service consultation within the Commission. Once the Commission approves the JCD project, it will be sent to the Council of the European Union for adoption if it contains substantial adaptations, otherwise the EU`s position will be taken up by the Commission. The EFTA secretariat and the EEAS then consult on the date of its adoption by the EEA Joint Committee and, if the agreement is approved by all parties, the EEA Joint Committee adopts the CDCD. The EEA agreement guarantees the participation of the three EEA-EFTA states in a number of EU programmes and agencies. Several others are under review or preparing to be included in the EEA agreement. In addition, bilateral agreements with the EU guarantee the participation of each EFTA member state in several other EU agencies. The EFTA website contains a list of all EU programmes and a list of all EU agencies currently involving EEA-EFTA states. Norway`s overall financial contribution under the EEA agreement consists of contributions related to participation in these projects and a portion allocated to development projects aimed at reducing social and economic disparities in the EU (EEA and Norway grants). [13] [14] EEA-EFTA states fund their participation in programmes and agencies for the relative size of their gross domestic product (GDP) relative to the GDP of the EEA as a whole.

The participation of the EEA-EFTA is therefore on par with the EU Member States. The overall EEA-EFTA commitment amounts to 2.4% of the EU`s total programme budget. In 2008, Norway contributed EUR 188 million. Throughout the 2007-2013 programming period, Norway`s contribution, along with the evolution of the EU programme budget, will increase considerably, from EUR 130 million in 2007 to EUR 290 million in 2013. Norway allocated almost EUR 1.3 billion to EEA and Norway grants between 2004 and 2009. [15] [16] The EEA agreement brings together the 28 EU Member States and the three EEA-EFTA states, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, in the internal market, for which the same basic rules apply. It guarantees the four freedoms of the EU internal market, as well as non-discrimination and equal competition rules throughout the EEA. Disagreements on this issue are known to cause divisions within families and local communities.

Although there is a general pattern that urban communities are pro-accession and that rural communities do not, all Norwegian regions had noisy minorities.