28/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - In November, the Secretariat of four countries in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland published its first guide to EU programmes 2007-2013. The guide provides information for companies, civil society and ordinary people in the four countries on the rules and application details for EU programmes they can participate in. The EFTA/European Economic Area countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) can participate in 17 EU programmes in domains as varied as innovation, lifelong learning, employment, youth, culture and consumer protection. The implementation of the programmes has been decentralised in the beneficiary countries in order to make them operate faster and be more accessible to stakeholders. The guide can be found at: http: //secretariat.efta.int/Web/Publications/EFTABulletin/bulletin_programmes.pdf. (M.B.)