Customs union
Encyclopedia
Trade bloc
A trade bloc is a type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where regional barriers to trade, are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.-Description:...
which is composed of a free trade area
Free trade area
A free trade area is a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement , which eliminates tariffs, import quotas, and preferences on most goods and services traded between them. If people are also free to move between the countries, in addition to FTA, it would also be...
with a common external tariff
Common external tariff
When a group of countries form a customs union they must introduce a common external tariff. The same customs duties, import quotas, preferences or other non-tariff barriers to trade apply to all goods entering the area, regardless of which country within the area they are entering...
. The participant countries set up common external trade policy, but in some cases they use different import quota
Import quota
An import quota is a type of protectionist trade restriction that sets a physical limit on the quantity of a good that can be imported into a country in a given period of time....
s. Common competition policy is also helpful to avoid competition
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
deficiency.
Purposes for establishing a customs union normally include increasing economic efficiency and establishing closer political and cultural ties between the member countries.
It is the third stage of economic integration
Economic integration
Economic integration refers to trade unification between different states by the partial or full abolishing of customs tariffs on trade taking place within the borders of each state...
.
Customs union is established through trade pact
Trade pact
A trade pact is a wide ranging tax, tariff and trade pact that often includes investment guarantees. The most common trade pacts are of the preferential and free trade types are concluded in order to reduce tariffs, quotas and other trade restrictions on items traded between the signatories.-By...
.
List of customs unions
Every Economic unionEconomic union
An economic union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a common market with a customs union. The participant countries have both common policies on product regulation, freedom of movement of goods, services and the factors of production and a common external trade policy.The countries...
, Customs and monetary union
Customs and Monetary Union
An customs and monetary union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a customs union and a currency union. The participant countries have both common external trade policy and share a single currency....
and Economic and monetary union
Economic and monetary union
An economic and monetary union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of an economic union with a monetary union. It is to be distinguished from a mere monetary union , which does not involve a common market. This is the fifth stage of economic integration...
has also a Customs Union
| Agreement | Date (in force) | Recent reference |
|---|---|---|
| Andean Community (CAN) | 1988-5-25 | L/6737 |
| East African Community East African Community The East African Community is an intergovernmental organisation comprising the five east African countries Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. Pierre Nkurunziza, the President of the Republic of Burundi, is the current Chairman of the East African Community. The EAC was originally... (EAC) |
2005-1-1 | WT/COMTD/N/14 |
| Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia The Customs Union between Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia came into existence on January 1, 2010. Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia are to go on with economic integration and were set to remove all customs borders between each other after July 2011.... |
2010-07-1 | |
| EU — Andorra European Union Customs Union The European Union Customs Union is a customs union which consists of all the Member States of the European Union and a number of surrounding countries.... |
1991-7-1 | WT/REG53/M/3 |
| EU — San Marino European Union Customs Union The European Union Customs Union is a customs union which consists of all the Member States of the European Union and a number of surrounding countries.... |
2002-4-1 | |
| EU — Turkey European Union-Turkey Customs Union On 31 December 1995 the customs union between Turkey and the European Union came into effect. Goods can travel between the two entities without any customs restrictions. The Customs Union does not cover essential economic areas, such as agriculture, to which bilateral trade concessions apply,... |
1996-1-1 | WT/REG22/M/4 |
| Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea... — Palestinian Authority |
1994 | |
| Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) | 1991-11-29 | WT/COMTD/1/Add.17 |
| Southern African Customs Union Southern African Customs Union The Southern African Customs Union is a customs union among five countries of Southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.-History:SACU is the oldest still existing customs union in the world... (SACU) |
1910 | WT/REG231/3 |
| Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... — Liechtenstein Liechtenstein The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan... |
1924 |
Additionally the autonomous and dependent
Dependent territory
A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State, and remains politically outside of the controlling state's integral area....
territories, such as some of the EU member state special territories, are sometimes treated as separate customs territory
Customs territory
A customs territory is a territory with individual customs regulations.The most common type of customs territory is the sovereign state and the others are the Trade bloc that has a customs union; and the autonomous or dependent territory that has independence in foreign trade and customs...
from their mainland state or have varying arrangements of formal or de-facto customs union, common market and currency union
Currency union
A currency union is where two or more states share the same currency, though without there necessarily having any further integration such as an Economic and Monetary Union, which has in addition a customs union and a single market.There are three types of currency unions:#Informal - unilateral...
(or combinations thereof) with the mainland and in regards to third countries trough the trade pact
Trade pact
A trade pact is a wide ranging tax, tariff and trade pact that often includes investment guarantees. The most common trade pacts are of the preferential and free trade types are concluded in order to reduce tariffs, quotas and other trade restrictions on items traded between the signatories.-By...
s signed by the mainland state.
Proposed
- 2010 Common Market for Eastern and Southern AfricaCommon Market for Eastern and Southern AfricaThe Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, is a free trade area with nineteen member states stretching from Libya to Zimbabwe. COMESA formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area which had existed since 1981...
(COMESA) - 2010 Southern African Development CommunitySouthern African Development CommunityThe Southern African Development Community is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security cooperation among 15 southern African states...
(SADC) - 2011 Economic Community of Central African StatesEconomic Community of Central African StatesThe Economic Community of Central African States is an Economic Community of the African Union for promotion of regional economic co-operation in Central Africa...
(ECCAS) - 2012 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
- 2015 Arab Customs UnionArab Customs UnionThe Arab customs union is a customs union announced at the Arab League's 2009 Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in Kuwait in order to achieve a functional customs union by 2015 and an Arab common market by 2020 and to increase inter-Arab trade and integration.The announcement was made by...
(ACU) - 2015 Economic Community of West African StatesEconomic Community of West African StatesThe Economic Community of West African States is a regional group of fifteen West African countries. Founded on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, its mission is to promote economic integration across the region....
(ECOWAS) - 2019 or before Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)
- 2019 African Economic CommunityAfrican Economic CommunityThe African Economic Community is an organization of African Union states establishing grounds for mutual economic development among the majority of African states...
(AEC) - ca 2020 Closer Economic RelationsCloser Economic RelationsCloser Economic Relations is a free trade agreement between the governments of New Zealand and Australia. It is also known as the Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement and sometimes shortened to...
of AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga... - Central American Common Market (CACM)
Defunct
- Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (UDEAC) - superseded by CEMAC
- 1925 French Customs Union over occupied Territory of the Saar BasinSaar (League of Nations)The Territory of the Saar Basin , also referred as the Saar or Saargebiet, was a region of Germany that was occupied and governed by Britain and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, with the occupation originally being under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles...
- The former ZollvereinZollvereinthumb|upright=1.2|The German Zollverein 1834–1919blue = Prussia in 1834 grey= Included region until 1866yellow= Excluded after 1866red = Borders of the German Union of 1828 pink= Relevant others until 1834...
- Custom Union Between Lebanon and Syria
- Customs Union of the Commonwealth of Independent StatesCommonwealth of Independent StatesThe Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
(CIS) and its proposed successor in the framework of Eurasian Economic CommunityEurasian Economic CommunityThe Eurasian Economic Community originated from the Commonwealth of Independent States customs union between Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan on 29 March 1996...
(EurAsEC)
External links
- Agreements Notified to the GATTGeneral Agreement on Tariffs and TradeThe General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization . GATT was signed in 1947 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World...
/WTOWorld Trade OrganizationThe World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
and in Force
See also
- The McGill University Faculty of Law runs a Regional Trade Agreements Database that contains the text of almost all preferential and regional trade agreements in the world. ptas.mcgill.ca
- Michael T. Florinsky. 1934. The Saar Struggle. New York: The Macmillan Company.
- List of international trade topics
- European Customs Information Portal (ECIP)European Customs Information Portal (ECIP)The European Customs Information Portal is an importing and exporting service provided by the EU for business operators of its Member States.-European Customs Information Portal background:...
- Customs territoryCustoms territoryA customs territory is a territory with individual customs regulations.The most common type of customs territory is the sovereign state and the others are the Trade bloc that has a customs union; and the autonomous or dependent territory that has independence in foreign trade and customs...