# Brussels Tells Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to Clear a Growing Backlog of EU Law > The Commission says the three EEA countries now have 671 EU acts waiting to be absorbed into their own law, the worst backlog on record, and is warning that catching up is a legal obligation rather than a formality. - Source: Belgium Crown - Canonical URL: https://belgiumcrown.com/article/brussels-tells-norway-iceland-and-liechtenstein-to-clear-a-growing-backlog-of-eu-law - Author: Belgium Crown Staff - Section: Europe - Published: 2026-09-22T06:42:56.141Z - Updated: 2026-09-22T06:42:56.141Z - Tags: EEA, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, European Commission --- The European Commission has told Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to speed up how quickly they absorb EU legislation into their own laws, warning the three countries that a growing backlog is a legal and political problem rather than a paperwork issue. The three sit outside the EU but access its single market through the European Economic Area agreement, which requires them to incorporate relevant EU law into their own legal systems, typically with a delay while national parliaments process each act. Nicolas von Lingen, who heads the Commission's EEA unit, said the backlog is not only a technical issue but a legal obligation, and stressed that all EU member states are held to the same rules, so the three EEA states are expected to abide by them too. ## A backlog that keeps growing The numbers have moved sharply in the wrong direction. The pile of EU acts still waiting to be incorporated into EEA law reached 671 in 2026, the highest total on record and up from 506 in 2014. EFTA logged 807 new acts requiring incorporation in 2025 alone, compared with roughly 300 to 400 a year a decade ago. EFTA official Marit Schage Andria said part of the slowdown comes down to the growing complexity of modern EU legislation, which increasingly spans several policy areas at once, such as the Green Deal. Some delays have stretched for decades. An EU postal directive from 2008 was not incorporated into Norwegian law until 2016, while Iceland only adopted the EU's so called Cheerios Regulation, a 2002 law on fortified foods, in 2025, a gap of 23 years. --- Originally published by Belgium Crown. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://belgiumcrown.com/article/brussels-tells-norway-iceland-and-liechtenstein-to-clear-a-growing-backlog-of-eu-law.