Ławniczak, Ryszard2017-07-212017-07-211969Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny 31, 1969, z. 1, s. 209-2290035-9629http://hdl.handle.net/10593/18828European Free Trade Association, the second large integration grouping in West Europe has been underestimated for a long time. It was result of a serious misunderstanding. EFTA should not be only treated as a temporary solution, but the importance of this grouping lies in the fact that it is the first succesfully realized Free Trade Area in the history. So far the development of EFTA has prooved that opposite to what was questioned, Free Trade Area present a valid and workable alternative to Customs Union. The author after defining EFTA and dealing with three main objections to it, concerning: validity, workability and economic effectiveness of this form, comes to the conclusion that Free Trade Area and not the Customs Union form, has the future. This conclusion is of great importance also for the socialist countries, because Free Trade Area form of integration grouping offers the possibility for creating a future grouping on the world-wide basis, embracing capitalist, socialist and developing countries.polinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessArtykuł