Since we are looking at the EEA, probably because of the House of Lords and the so called Brexit Bill, I for one needed more information:
The Uk could not remain a member state of the EEA after Brexit. Article 126 EEA . After Brexit from what I have read, the UK not being a member of either the EU or EFTA cannot be a EEA member nor could we be a candidate to become one. The EEA is essentially a commercial association not a political one.
I have paraphrased the information below and made acknowledgement to the author at the end.
In order to be a member of EEA after the EU Treaties cease (article 50 (3) TEU) the UK would have to apply for candidacy and negotiate and accession agreement become an EFTA member (article 56 (1) of the convention establishing the EFTA). Because EEA does not apply to non EU member states other than the four EFTA's Switzerland , Iceland, Leichtenstein and Norway (article 126 (1) EEA).
If we went down that route of negotiation and were accepted into EFTA we could then apply to be part of the EEA outside the EU in the same way as the other four Countries. This cannot be done until after Brexit. The process would take years.
The conditions on us if we went that way would be:
(This is cut and paste):
-1) As legally binding in its national law the transposition of all EU directives and regulations for the internal market, without participating in their decision « making » but only on « shaping » them (art 99 and 102-104 EEA).
-2) The four freedoms, including the free movement of persons (art 1 and 28 EEA). This would permit the UK to fully participate in the EU single market, with the current exceptions (agriculture and fisheries), while not being part of the EU Customs Union, being thus able to conclude its own bilateral trade agreements.
-3) A strict application of EU law once it would have been incorporated in EEA law and in its national law (art 104 and 108 EEA).
-4) The EEA rule according to which all decisions to be taken by the EEA Council or by the EEA Joint Committee need a common agreement of the EEA EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and thus the UK). Each of those States is able to refuse a proposed decision and, for example, to prevent the others to follow quickly EU legislation (art 90(1) and 93 EEA).
-5) An indirect but substantive participation in the EU budget (art 115-117 EEA)[4].
-6) The surveillance rôle of the independent EEA Authority (one member per EEA member State), comparable to the rôle played by the Commission vis-à-vis the member States in the EU (art 108 and 109 EEA, art 5 and 6 EFTA Agreement).
-7) The interpretation of applicable texts and the judicial control to be insured by the independent EFTA Court (one member per EEA member State), which is the pendant to the EU Court of Justice (art 31-41 EFTA Agreement), must follow its past case law and pay due account of the principles it lays down (art 3 EFTA Agreement). According to article 33 of the EFTA Agreement, « The EFTA States concerned shall take the necessary measures to comply with the judgments of the EFTA Court ».
-8) The necessary homogeneity of the internal market within the Area, which comprises the 28 EU Members and the three EEA EFTA members, which implies unavoidably that the interpretation of identical texts cannot be different than the interpretation given by the EUCJ in its case-law (art 6 and 105-112 EEA, especially 107 and 111(3), art 2 and 3 EFTA Agreement).
For me, as a leave voter this is not Brexit.
It will be interesting to see what other think after reading this
Ref:Why the UK will not become an EEA member after Brexit
Jean-Claude Piris / Sep 2017