Andrej Králik

The European internal market with 370 millions of consumers represents today the largest world market, which contributes to the European prosperity and welfare by stimulating the trade within the European Union, economising costs of the trade transactions and increase in the production. The Single market of EC is based on the assumption that goods merchandised at the market of one Member State can be freely transferred to other Member States. Rules on the functioning of the internal market have the ambition to remove all obstacles in the internal trade of European Community with the aim of the unification of national markets into the single market where the free movements of goods, persons and capital and freedom to provide services are ensured. Free movement of productive factors causes that within the internal market values are produced wherever it suits them best. The aim of the Treaty establishing European Community is to ensure the competition between products from various Member States of the European Union and to prevent any measures by Member States constraining the volume of trade exchange or increasing of prices of goods. In order to achieve these objectives, the Treaty includes several provisions aimed at the abolition of custom duties and payments with equivalent effect and quantitative restrictions on the import and export as well as measures equivalent to quantitative measures. The Treaty establishing EC requires that Member States adjust state monopolies of the commercial character (to comply with the requirements). Moreover, the treaty requires from them to stipulate guidelines regulating activities of enterprises and granting of exclusive right by Member States, to establish rules on the provision of the state aid to enterprises and prohibit the discrimination in levying taxes between products of the respective state and products of other Member States. These provisions along with the secondary legislation of the Community enable the unification of Member States markets into one economic area, creating conditions for the free movement of goods.