大象传媒

The impact of globalisation on businesses - EduqasThe European Union and the European single market

In business, globalisation means operating on an international scale to provide or produce goods and services. Almost all of the goods we use are made of parts sourced from around the world.

Part of BusinessInfluences on business

The European Union and the European single market

The European Union (EU) is a group of countries from Europe that have an agreement in place for political and economic purposes. The EU has what is known as a single market, this allows for the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour.

The single market has a number of characteristics, these include:

  • free movement of goods, services, capital and labour
  • all of the countries within the EU can trade freely with each other, which means that no are put in place
  • goods and services traded within the EU tend to be cheaper than those traded with countries outside of the EU
  • there are general laws that affect businesses across the EU, examples include employment law and consumer protection
  • no barriers to trade across member states
  • tariffs on trading outside the EU