FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS Questions and Answers .

FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS Questions and Answers . In spite of the aims of the EU Treaties, there is still not at the present time absolute freedom for a person in one Member State to import or export goods from or to another Member State. Discuss, explaining in particular the circumstances in which a Member State can lawfully restrict or prohibit the free movement of goods from another Member State. The internal market is defined in Article 26 TFEU in the following terms: The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaties. The aim is to achieve the circulation of goods without customs, duties, charges or other financial or other restrictions; to promote unlimited trade and to remove from the Member States the control over export and import matters. The union is to be solely responsible for the latter. The preamble of the old EC Treaty has previously proved instrumental in the Court’s ruling in reaching a decision on cases involving the free movement of goods as have Articles 2 and 3 and the fidelity clause Article 10 and the prohibition of discrimination Article 12 EC. This will continue to be the case with the new Treaties, Articles 3 and 4 TEU and Article 18 TFEU. There are four main groups of provisions in the TFEU connected with the free movement of goods: a) Custom duties and charges having equivalent effect (Articles 28-30 TFEU) b) The common customs tariff (Articles 31-32 TFEU) c) The use of national taxation systems to discriminate against goods imported from another Member State (Article 110 Tfeu) d) Quantitative restrictions or measures having an equivalent effect on imports and exports (Articles 34-36 TFEU) FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS 2 Articles 28-30 TFEU are aimed at the abolition of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect and at prohibiting the introduction of any such measures. Article 28 states that the Union shall be based on a customs union, with a common customs tariff, involving the prohibition of all customs duties on imports and charges having equivalent effect. This provision covers all trade in goods, goods being defined by the Court of Justice in Commission v Italy as products which can be valued in money and which are capable, as such, of forming the subject of commercial transactions. The definition has been extended in Commission v Ireland to include the provision of goods within a contract for the provision of services. Article 30 TFEU prohibits the introduction of new customs duties or charges having equivalent effect, and equally prohibits the increase of those which are already in existence. The prohibition applies both to imports and exports and was held to be directly effective in the leading case of Van Gend en Loos. The Treaty of Amsterdam has amended this by adding a second sentence to make it expressly clear that the prohibition also applies to customs duties of a fiscal nature.