ABSTRACT
The European Community (EC) represents a unique development in the world: a new structure of relations between states. It has often been referred to as 'the Common Market' because it is a single trading entity: goods moving between the member countries are not subject to tariffs, while imports from the rest of the world enter under uniform conditions. Policy making in the EC involves the Commission, the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, and the Economic and Social Committee, with the adjudication of the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors. EC legislation is determined by the three mam institutions - the Council of Ministers, the Commission, and the European Parliament - with the Economic and Social Committee offering its advisory opinion. The Commission acts as the initiator of legislation and as the executive authority responsible for implementing it. The European Parliament is the world's first directly elected international assembly.
