Community preference was a concept in the European Union in which all the

member states A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

would be encouraged by the

Institutions of the European Union The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and the Euratom. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union: * the European Parliament, * the European Counci ...

and the Treaties of the European Union to give priority preference to all goods, trade, services, agricultural products and people from their fellow EU member states over all goods, trade, services and people from non-EU countries. Proponents argued that this would add to the benefits of EU membership by encouraging the member states to trade with each other rather than to trade with non-EU counties who are outside the bloc. It would serve as an integral part of the freedom of movement for workers in the European Union as well as the European Single Market and the European Union Customs Union. Community preference would not apply to countries of the

European Free Trade Association The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe, European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerlan ...

even though they were members of the European Single Market and observed freedom of movement rules. It was one of the founding principles of the establishment of the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

(which would later become the European Union) when the

Treaty of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was sig ...

was signed in 1958. But in a judgment in 1994 ''Greece v Council'', Case C-353/92, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that Community preference was not a principle of EU law. Its legal basis, Article 44 of the Treaty of Rome, was repealed by the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty.

References

{{Authority control Trade blocs

See also

References