Because the 27 EU Member States share a single market and a single external border, they also have a single trade policy. EU Member States speak and negotiate collectively, both in the World Trade Organisation, where the rules of international trade are agreed and enforced, and with individual trading partners. This common policy enables them to speak with one voice in trade negotiations, maximising their impact in such negotiations. This is even more important in a globalised world in which economies tend to cluster together in regional groups.

The openness of the EU's trade regime has meant that the EU is the biggest player on the global trading scene and remains a good region to do business with. Thanks to the ease of modern transport and communications, it is now easier to produce, buy and sell goods around the world which gives European companies of every size the potential to trade outside Europe.

The EU market

The EU is a Customs Union - its 27 member countries form a single territory for customs purposes.

This means that

· no customs duties are paid on goods moving between EU Member States

· EU Member States apply a common customs tariff for goods imported from outside the EU

· goods that have been legally imported can circulate throughout the EU with no further customs checks.

Businesses in and outside the EU benefit from

· a market for their products of over 400 million consumers

· easier access to a wide range of suppliers and consumers

· lower unit costs

· greater commercial opportunities.

The 27 Member States of the EU form a single territory for customs purposes. This implies that the EU is a Customs Union, meaning that its Member States have no customs duty barriers between themselves and they all have a common customs tariff for imported goods. Moreover, once customs duties have been duly paid and compliance with import conditions has been inspected, imported goods are free to circulate within the rest of the EU without any further customs controls.

The Customs Territory of the Union includes the territories of the following Member States

· Belgium

· Bulgaria

· Croatia

· the Czech Republic

· Denmark, except the Faroe Islands and Greenland

· Germany, except the Island of Heligoland and the territory of Büsingen

· Estonia

· Ireland

· Greece

· Spain, except Ceuta and Melilla

· France, except New Caledonia, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna Islands, French Polynesia and French Southern and Antarctic Territories, but including the overseas departments of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion Islands

· Italy, except the municipality of Livigno

· Cyprus (pending a settlement to the Cyprus problem, the application of the Union 'acquis' is suspended in those areas in which the Government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control)

· Latvia

· Lithuania

· Luxembourg

· Hungary

· Malta

· the Netherlands in Europe

· Austria

· Poland

· Portugal

· Romania

· Slovenia

· the Slovak Republic

· Finland

· Sweden

The customs territory of the Union comprise territorial waters, internal waters and airspace of the Member States, except territorial waters, internal waters and airspace of the territories situated outside of the customs territory of the Union.

The territory of the principality of Monaco, including its territorial waters, inland maritime waters and airspace, although situated outside the territory of the Union, shall also be considered to be part of the customs territory of the Union.