Treaties
| Published date | 01 May 1960 |
| Author | D. G. Valentine |
| Date | 01 May 1960 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1960.tb00600.x |
TREATIES
Tm
FREE
TRADE ASSOCIATION
AND
THE
COMMON
MARKET
COMPARED
IT
is not easy
to
introduce free trade among a group of countries,
and before any treaty can be drawn up the countries concerned
must be very clear about what exactly
it
is that they wish to
achieve. Shall the treaty merely lower tariffs between the member
states,
or
shall
it
in addition establish a common external tariff in
relation to third countries? Shall the treaty merely create free
trade,
or
should
it
also create some form of political
union
between
the member states?
Is
the treaty to be a tentative step, from
which any party can withdraw,
or
shall the arrangement be
permanent and irrevocable
?
and the European Common Market,2 the Seven and the Six, have
each given different answers. When completely carried into effect,
the Free Trade Association Treaty will end
“
internal
”
tariffs and
quotas, that is
to
say the obstacles
to
free trade between the
members of the Association, but
it
will still leave each of those
members quite free to regulate its trade with outside countries as
it
pleases. The Common Market,
on
the other hand,
will
eventually
be surrounded by a common external tariff against all non-member
states, including, of course, all of the Seven. The Free Trade
Association Treaty merely ends tariffs between sovereign states,
the
Common
Market goes further and creates a community of
nations, with a political structure, a parliament and a court: any
party can withdraw from the Free Trade AssociationYs
no
party
can withdraw from the Common Market Community.
In
the light of this,
it
may be of value to compare the solutions
of these two free trade agreements to the problems of introducing
free trade.
To these three questions the European Free Trade Association
Problems
to
be solved
To bring about free trade, one must, of course, first decide the
countries between which
it
is to occur, and then in respect
of
what
goods. This done, various obstacles have to be removed.
First, a state must
no
longer be able to limit the quantity of
the free trade
goods
coming in,
or
to impose import duties upon
them and, once in the country, the goods must not be treated in
1
Text
of
Convention and other documents,
H.M.S.O.,
Cmnd.
906,
rice
3s.
2
Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
H.M.S.8,
price
10s.
3
European Free Trade Association Treaty, Art.
42.
This is done merely
by
giving twelve months’ notice
in
writing
to
the Government
of
Sweden:
ibid.
295
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