The Community’s Export Policy and the Case of Strategic Export Controls

Abstract

Abstract In the previous chapters the incomplete state of the Community’s commercial policy with respect to the regulation of imports was discussed. However, it is not only with respect to imports that, at the time when the internal market programme was devised, full uniformity had not yet been achieved. The Community’s rules on exports-basically proclaiming the principle of free exportation-did not yet apply to all products. The exceptions could be classified in two categories. The first were the products expressly mentioned in the basic regulation as not benefiting from the rule of free exportation. These included, on the one hand, a variety of products for which for one or other reason export restrictions were still in force, and, on the other, petroleum products. The latter were kept outside the scope of the regulation because of their importance for the various Member States in terms of securing the supply of energy, and because of the fact that trade in these products is to some extent regulated by the International Energy Agency. The former category has been almost completely eliminated, whereas a provisional solution was found for the latter. These restrictions will not be further discussed here, for one thing because they were not that important from the perspective of completing the internal market (unless one looks at the creation of an internal market for energy products, a subject which is not addressed in this study).