Spotlight on the EU Customs Union
Established in 1968 as a founding component of the European Economic Community (succeeded by the European Union), the Customs Union celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Nowadays, its benefits are taken for granted; few travellers can remember the physical controls of luggage and goods at the borders that took hours and few entrepreneurs can remember the cumbersome customs procedures to import or export goods from one European country to another.
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The Customs Union was a crucial step towards European integration and the creation of a single market; it created a free-trade area where goods circulate freely, without customs duties at the borders between EU countries. It also created a single territory for customs purposes. This means that there is a common policy of external tariff on all goods entering the Union, replacing tonnes of red tape and significantly reducing the administrative burden, not only for each single Member State, but also for the trading partners of the EU. Importantly, among several other significant benefits, the Customs Union has been collectively protecting the safety and security of citizens of its Member States. Find out more in this month's newsletter along with some of the most interesting EU publications on several other topics, including research. |
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The EU Customs Union means that goods imported into the EU circulate freely and that they are safe for people, for animals and for the environment. A customs union also means that the countries involved apply the same tariffs to goods imported into their territory from the rest of the world. This factsheet offers a quick glimpse into the EU Customs Union.
Available in all the official languages of the EU
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The EU Customs Union: protecting people and facilitating trade
Customs is holding the front line against dangerous goods, illegal trafficking, fraud, terrorism and organised crime while making legitimate trade as easy as possible. Part of the series The European Union explained, this publication presents in detail the benefits of the EU Customs Union.
Available in all official languages of the EU
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Experience you can rely on
This publication introduces the European customs laboratories: the scientific tool of customs and tax authorities. Their work is crucial in traditional areas of customs, excise and agricultural policy. However, customs laboratories now play an important role in other activities too, such as anti-fraud operations, determining the authenticity and origin of products, detecting illegal imports like narcotics and drug precursors, protecting consumers against dangerous goods or contaminated food, safeguarding the environment and endangered species.
Available in English
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More on this topic
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Customs Union, internal market acquis for goods and services, consumer protection law, public procurement — Study
This in-depth analysis addresses the implications of several scenarios of the UK withdrawing from the EU in relation to the EU Customs Union, the internal market law for goods and services, and on consumer protection law, identifying the main cross-cutting challenges that have to be addressed irrespective of the policy choices that will be made in due course.
Available in English
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Results at the EU border, 2017
The annual publication of customs results at the EU external borders provides an opportunity to measure the scale of actions required to enforce intellectual property rights (IPR). The enforcement of IPR is a priority of the European Commission and of the EU Member States.
Available in English
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This is a multilingual database covering all measures relating to tariff, commercial and agricultural legislation. It provides a clear view of the actions needed when importing or exporting goods.
Available in English
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Research
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10 years ago, the collapse of Lehman Brothers sparked the worst economic crisis in 70 years. What lessons have we learned? What has been done to prevent this from happening again? Find out more in this issue of research*eu.
Available in English
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Spotlight on ERC projects: 2018
Mathematics is playing an important role in the economies of countries and it is a key domain in the modern data science era. This brochure presents fascinating projects in the field supported by the European Research Council and representing more than EUR 600 million of investment.
Available in English
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Also out recently
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Rethinking land degradation and sustainable land management
This third edition of the World Atlas of Desertification (WAD3) takes a fresh look at land degradation — a phenomenon triggered by human land use. Land degradation is likely to threaten our ability to make productive use of the earth while still maintaining the critical global environmental goods and services in the future. WAD3 identifies areas of concern and suggests actions to reverse, arrest, or adapt to the problem.
Available in English
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Speak up Europe! 100 ideas for a better future
For the third time, the European Parliament opened its doors to thousands of young people from across the continent for the European Youth Event 2018. In this unique get-together, more than 8 000 young citizens engaged in an open debate on the future of Europe, nurturing the work of the European Parliament with their ideas. It was a true inspiration for the Members of the European Parliament (MEP), as roles were reversed: young people led the conversation and MEPs listened — a reminder that the youth are our present and future. The two-day event saw a wide range of stimulating discussions and debates. See their highlights in this publication.
Available in English, French and German
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Established by the Treaties of Rome, the European Economic and Social Committee held its first plenary on 19 May 1958. Since then its history has been linked to that of the process of European integration. This digital multimedia publication traces the 60 years of the Committee's commitment to involving civil society — in all its diversity — in European integration. It also shows why, at a time when it is essential to reconnect Europe with its citizens, the existence of such a place of dialogue involving virtually all the components of civil society is more necessary than ever. Click on the 'HTML' hyperlink to enjoy it.
Available in English and French
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You may also like
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In this booklet you will find examples of the many languages spoken in the EU. Starting out in 1958 with only four official languages (Dutch, French, German and Italian) the European Union now has 24 official languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. If you are more interested in the topic, check also the DGT translation memory data set: a freely available translation memory (sentences and their manually produced translations) in 24 languages.
Available in all the official languages of the EU
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2018 edition
This publication provides a statistical portrait of the European Union (EU) in relation to the rest of the world. It presents a broad range of indicators for the EU and the non-EU members of the Group of Twenty (G20). It may be viewed as an introduction to European and international statistics and provides a starting point for those who wish to explore the wide range of data that are freely available from Eurostat and a variety of international organisations.
Available in English
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2018 update
Across Europe, new forms of employment are emerging. Some of them transform the relationship between employer and employee while others change work organisation and work patterns. They often involve locations other than the usual employer's premises, and/or extensive use of information and communications technologies. This report identifies nine forms of employment that are either new or have become increasingly important in Europe since the year 2000. If you are more interested in the topic, check also the European Jobs Monitor data set which tracks structural change in European labour markets.
Available in English
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Our news: EU Datathon 2018 — four teams take home a trophy
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The EU Datathon 2018 competition culminated in Brussels on 2 October, with the selection of the winner app in each of four thematic challenges. Medicatio, Lexparency, TenderLake and Open Food Facts are the winning teams. Congratulations!
The competition illustrated the power of open data to stimulate enterprises, start-ups, individuals and other data enthusiasts from all over Europe to find practical solutions to societal problems, as well as to generate jobs and growth. The next EU Datathon will come in 2019!
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