ABSTRACT
The manner in which European Community law has developed in the field of taxation provides a microcosm for many of the tensions within the integration process. With the establishment of the customs union, it concentrated on those most direct barriers to trade, customs duties and charges having equivalent effect (CEE). With the completion of the customs union, the difficulties posed by Member States' systems indirect taxation became more apparent. The unity of the community customs territory is undermined by the establishment of a regional customs frontier just the same, whether the products on which a charge is levied by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier are domestic products or come from other Member States. The circumstance where a tax on both imports and domestic products will be considered to be a CEE is where even if the tax is levied upon both at the same rate, the proceeds of the tax are used to benefit domestic production.
