European Community Law and the Automobile Industry

The question whether the European Community should intervene in the economic process, and if so, to what extent, has been the subject of public debate for many years. This study describes and gives an analysis of the manner and extent to which the European Community intervenes in the automobile industry through legal measures. The focus is on those provisions of the EC Treaty and the multiple Community legal measures that constitute the Community legal framework within which the automobile industry must operate. This study gives an introduction to the automobile industry and the EC Treaty and examines a selection of the multiple Community measures that have significant implications for the automobile industry. Important examples of such measures are the rules on type approval, registration of automobiles, roadworthiness tests, internal taxation, environment, the common rules on imports and exports, distribution and servicing, state aid measures, concentrations and co-operation, and the various Community measures aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of the Community's automobile industry. This study shows that the Community, and the Commission in particular, is increasingly making use of the various competences provided by the EC Treaty to intervene in the automobile industry. This development is further stimulated by the gradual internationalisation, or even globalisation, of the world economy. In addition, this study indicates that there is a need for a much more unambiguous, coherent and transparent legal framework within which the automobile industry must operate.