free movement of goods Flashcards
(7 cards)
internal market
The internal market of the EU is a single market in which the free movement of goods, services, capital and persons is ensured and in which EU citizens are free to live, work, study and do business
Article 3(3) TEU The Union shall establish an internal market
Article 26 TFEU
The Union shall adopt measures with the aim of establishing or ensuring the functioning of the internal market, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Treaties
NEGATIVE INTEGRATION involves the prohibition of acts which discriminate against goods of other countries on grounds of their national origin. decentralised
POSITIVE INTEGRATION involves the creation of common standards so that the grounds on which a State seeks to exclude other goods can no longer be pleaded. xentralised model
AIM: The
concept of a common market as defined by the Court in a
consistent line of decisions involves the elimination of all
obstacles to intra-Community [now Union] trade in order to
merge the national markets into a single market bringing
about conditions as close as possible to those of a genuine
internal market.
Competences
EXCLUSIVE COMPETENCE
Article 2(1) TFEU: When the Treaties confer on the Union exclusive competence in a specific area, only
the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so
themselves only if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of Union acts.
️ SHARED COMPETENCE
Article 2(2) TFEU: When the Treaties confer on the Union a competence shared with the Member
States in a specific area, the Union and the Member States may legislate and adopt legally binding
acts in that area. The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has
not exercised its competence. The Member States shall again exercise their competence to the extent
that the Union has decided to cease exercising its competence.
….plus PRINCIPLE OF CONFERRAL
Article 5(2) TEU: Under the principle of conferral, the Union shall act only within the limits of the
competences conferred upon it by the Member States in the Treaties to attain the objectives set out
therein. Competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the Member States.
internal market and world trade
Article 26(2) TFEU defines the internal
market as an area without internal
frontiers in which the free movement of
goods, persons, services and capital is
ensured
rticle 28 TFEU defines the Union’s customs
union as covering all trade in goods. It involves
the prohibition between Member States of
customs duties on imports and exports and of
all charges having equivalent effect.
️It also involves the adoption of a common
customs tariff in trade between the Member
States and countries outside the EU
provisions
The Treaty provisions are not applicable to ’situations that are
purely internal to a Member State.’ Case 115/78 J. Knoors v
Staatssecretaris van Economische Zaken [
ROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION
Article 18 TFEU: Within the scope of application
of the Treaties, and without prejudice to any
special provisions contained therein, any
discrimination on grounds of nationality shall
be prohibited
positive intergration harmonisation
article 114 tfeu
Save where otherwise provided in the Treaties, the following provisions
shall apply for the achievement of the objectives set out in Article 26. The
European Parliament and the Council shall, acting in accordance with the
ordinary legislative procedure and after consulting the Economic and
Social Committee, adopt the measures for the approximation of the
provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in
Member States which have as their object the establishment and
functioning of the internal market.
Goods definition
Court of Justice of the European Union defined goods as: ‘products which can be valued in money and which are capable, as such, of forming the subject of commercial transactions’.
Commission v Italy (‘Art treasures’) [1968]
Goods, in the common connotation of the term, possess tangible
physical characteristics.
* […]waste, whether recyclable or not, constitutes goods, as ‘objects
which are shipped across a frontier for the purposes of commercial
transactions are subject to Article [34 TFEU], whatever the nature of
the transaction’
EXAMPLES
COLLECTORS’ GOLD AND SILVER COINS - R v Thompson [1978]
CONTACT LENSES - Ker-Optika [2010]
WASTE PRODUCTS - Commission v Belgium [1992]
Article 30 TFEU makes it unlawful for Member States to introduce any customs
duties or charges having equivalent effect.
Article 110 TFEU No Member State shall impose any internal taxation of any kind in excess of that imposed directly or indirectly on similar domestic products
fiscal barriers
Fiscal barriers are charges that are imposed on goods because they are
imported.
Such charges act as a barrier to trade and are prohibited by Arts 28–30
TFEU and Art 110 TFEU
non-fiscal
The elimination of fiscal barriers is not itself
sufficient to ensure the free movement of goods:
quantitative restrictions must be eliminated too.
Quantitative restrictions are often described as
non-fiscal barriers to trade.
The most obvious examples are import quotas
and bans imposed by Member States.
Article 34 TFEU
Quantitative restrictions on imports and all measures having
equivalent effect shall be prohibited between Member States.
Article 35 TFEU
Quantitative restrictions on exports, and all measures
