The internal market is one of the key concepts of the EU. The aim is to remove barriers to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital between the EU Member States, thereby establishing an ‘internal market’ in the EU in which traditional barriers to exchanges of services and persons between the EU countries are absent.
In addition to the basic principle of freedom of movement for goods, persons, services and capital, the internal market is supplemented by principles and rules ensuring that competition within the internal market is not distorted and that the rules of the Member States are brought into line to the extent necessary for the functioning of the internal market. In addition, the so-called back-up policies – including protection of the environment and social and labour market policy – play an important role in the operation of the internal market.
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A customs union is different to a free-trade area such as EFTA in that it abolishes customs tariffs between member countries and at the same time introduces a common customs tariff for the import of goods from countries outside the customs union and a common trade policy. In EFTA, customs tariffs are abolished on trade between the EFTA countries, but there is no common customs tariff or trade policy, so in trade between the EFTA countries there is still a distinction between goods originating in an EFTA country and goods originating in countries outside the EFTA cooperation system. |
History of the internal market
The EEC Treaty (also known as the Treaty of Rome) had already stated that a ‘common market’ should be set up, but without any precise indication of what the common market entailed. However, the establishment of a customs union between EC countries was one of the cornerstones of the common market.
The customs union came into force on 1 July 1968 and the remaining customs duties on trade within the EC were abolished. The customs union also meant that the national customs duties of the EC countries on trade with countries outside the EC should be replaced by a common customs tariff and that a common trade policy should be introduced.
The actual framework for the internal market was first laid down with the adoption of the Single European Act, which came into force on 1 July 1987. This determined that an internal market should be set up with freedom of movement for goods, persons, services and capital, and a range of provisions set the framework and resources to achieve this objective.
In the European Council there was agreement in several instances at the beginning of the 1980s on the need to strengthen the EC internal market as a means of strengthening the economy of the EC countries. At its summit in March 1985 the European Council therefore called on the Commission to work out a detailed programme with a concrete timetable for the creation of a single large market within the EC by 1992.
Under the leadership of its President, Jacques Delors, the Commission later in 1985 published a White Paper on the completion of the internal market. The White Paper was very detailed and contained 279 legislative initiatives aimed at removing barriers to trade between the EU countries. The White Paper proposed 31 December 1992 as the deadline for the completion of the internal market.
The Treaty amendment in the form of the Single European Act followed up the Commission White Paper on the completion of the internal market. In order to make it possible to establish the internal market by 31 December 1992, a new provision was introduced into the EC Treaty (Art. 95 TEC) according to which the Council could adopt rules for the establishment of the internal market by a qualified majority. The provision was intended to ensure that the EU decision-making process was not blocked by decisions which required unanimity in order to be adopted. All the decisions had not been taken or implemented by 1 January 1993, however.
| A white paper is a document from the Commission with concrete and detailed proposals as to how policy in a particular area can be formulated. White papers often function as a form of action plan which is followed up by actual proposals for legislative measures. |
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For the internal market to function as intended, it is important that Member States adhere to the EU regulations adopted. It is one thing to have rules on freedom of movement, another to apply them in practice. Firms sometimes come up against illegal barriers to trade because the national authorities of a country or the authorities in another country are applying the rules on the internal market wrongly. The Commission has therefore established a network to solve these problems. The network consists of a coordination centre in each country. The purpose of the SOLVIT network is to reach a rapid and informal solution for citizens and firms who encounter problems involving rules on the internal market.
You can read more about SOLVIT, and find out how to obtain an assessment as to whether you have a case which can be dealt with by the SOLVIT network, by a visiting the website of SOLVIT: |
Sidst opdateret: 22-07-2008 - ANSJ