Context-related interpretation of association agreements : the Polydor principle in a comparative perspective : EEA law, Ankara association law and market access agreements between Switzerland and the EU

Association agreements concluded by the EU and non-EU States often contain provisions that are worded similarly, or even identically, as EU law. This is true in particular where an agreement provides for the association of the non-EU State with the Union’s internal market, i.e. provisions that deal with the free movement of goods, persons, services and/or capital. However, under the case-law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the same or similar wording does not necessarily lead to the same interpretation. Rather, interpretation has to be context-related. The  contribution discusses the role of this so-called Polydor principle in relation to three association systems, namely the law of the European Economic Area (EEA), which links the 28 EU Member States with the three EEA/EFTA States Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, further the Ankara Association Law between the EU and Turkey and, finally, Treaties concluded by the EU and Switzerland, which is the fourth EFTA State but does not participate in the EEA.