"There is little, if anything, in Article 2 MCC which indicates the foundational nature of the customs union in relation to the Community and therefore the great significance of the actions of the customs authorities of Member States in giving effect to it.Article 23 of the EC Treaty declares that the Community “shall be based upon a customs union”. The Lisbon Treaty had a wider perspective and so said that the Community “shall comprise” a customs union. The terminology is, perhaps, unsatisfactory. It is clear, nevertheless, that even in the Lisbon Treaty, the customs union remains a fundamental element of the Community and vital to free movement of goods. The European Economic and Social Committee has said that the customs union has been “the spearhead of Euroepan economic integration.” It is no accident that Article 23 is the first article in Part Three, Title I.It is true that Article 2 MCC places the activities of customs authorities in the context of fair and open trade and the implementation of external aspects of the internal market and other policies. The Article does not attempt, however, to provide a sense of the fundamental importance of free movement of goods of the customs union to the Community and, therefore, of the customs authorities’ actions. Supervision may be important, but the function of supervision is subsidiary to the goal of free movement of goods in an area “without internal frontiers”, as Article 14.2 of the EC Treaty puts it. The lack of this sense of fundamental importance of the customs union and free movement of goods is disappointing. It may easily result in a lack of appreciation of the significance of customs authorities’ conduct for the aims of the Community. That lack of appreciation is unlikely to be confined to traders. It is plain, as the Court of Justice said a long time ago, “that customs controls properly so-called have lost their raison d’ être”. We must be vigilant that the supervisory functions of customs authorities do not undermine that position."Timothy Lyons
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"There is little, if anything, in Article 2 MCC which indicates the foundational nature of the customs union in relation to the Community and therefore the great significance of the actions of the customs authorities of Member States in giving effect to it.Article 23 of the EC Treaty declares that the Community “shall be based upon a customs union”. The Lisbon Treaty had a wider perspective and so said that the Community “shall comprise” a customs union. The terminology is, perhaps, unsatisfactory. It is clear, nevertheless, that even in the Lisbon Treaty, the customs union remains a fundamental element of the Community and vital to free movement of goods. The European Economic and Social Committee has said that the customs union has been “the spearhead of Euroepan economic integration.” It is no accident that Article 23 is the first article in Part Three, Title I.It is true that Article 2 MCC places the activities of customs authorities in the context of fair and open trade and the implementation of external aspects of the internal market and other policies. The Article does not attempt, however, to provide a sense of the fundamental importance of free movement of goods of the customs union to the Community and, therefore, of the customs authorities’ actions. Supervision may be important, but the function of supervision is subsidiary to the goal of free movement of goods in an area “without internal frontiers”, as Article 14.2 of the EC Treaty puts it. The lack of this sense of fundamental importance of the customs union and free movement of goods is disappointing. It may easily result in a lack of appreciation of the significance of customs authorities’ conduct for the aims of the Community. That lack of appreciation is unlikely to be confined to traders. It is plain, as the Court of Justice said a long time ago, “that customs controls properly so-called have lost their raison d’ être”. We must be vigilant that the supervisory functions of customs authorities do not undermine that position."Timothy Lyons