This article aims at providing a broad assessment of the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on customs matters. Since the new treaties do not include any definition of what shall be meant by ‘customs matters’ this assessment embraces as many policies and fields of action as possible, not to miss any one which could be ‘customs-related’. It progresses from the basics of the new European Union, its values, objectives and principles, to enter step by step in the more detailed parts of the treaties, defining the categories and areas of competences of the Union and the legal bases for the adoption of secondary law relevant for customs-related matters, then identifying the acts of the Union and the new procedures to adopt them.
Global Trade and Customs Journal