A customs union is a form of regional economic integration where countries join together to eliminate all barriers to their mutual trade while imposing common restrictions to trade from non-member states. Customs unions therefore imply preferential or...

A group of countries with a COMMON EXTERNAL TARIFF but with free trade amongst themselves and free movement of labour and capital. The EUROPEAN COMMUNITY is a major example of such an arrangement. Many theories about customs unions are based not only...

A customs union is a free trade area with a common external tariff. The participant countries set up common external trade policy, but in some cases they use different import quotas. Common competition policy is also helpful to avoid competition...