Customs Union
A trading area covering two or more countries that agree to abolish internal tariffs and restrictions on the amount of trade (such as quotas), and have a common external tariff and other common trade controls.
Notes
- Not to be confused with a free trade area - which has no common customs and no common trade policy.
- The EU is a customs union with a common commercial policy as an exclusive EU competence
- EFTA is a free trade area where member states can have different trade policies
- The EEA agreement and bilateral agreements with Switserland has established a joint free trade zone internally between the EU and EFTA countries
Links
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/customs/index_en.htm
