The European Union is an economic association of 15 European countries in an attempt to create a unified barrier-free trade market throughout the continent. It is predominantly made up of the more affluent European countries, like France, Spain and the UK (although other less prosperous countries are currently candidates for membership, e.g. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Turkey. It was formed in 1951 when France, W.Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy and the Netherlands formed the European Coal and Steel Community. By the time the UK joined in 1973 it had became the European Economic Communities (EEC) and had been expanded to include 15 countries. Its aims could be best described as in Article 6 of the Treaty of Rome: .
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"The Community shall have as its task. By establishing a common market and progressively approximating the economic policies of Member States, to promote throughout the Community a harmonious development of economic activities, a continuous and balanced expansion, an increase in stability, an accelerated raising of the standard of living and closer relations between the States belonging to it".
A major impact on Britain was the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, which dramatically increased co-operation with its European partners in political, economic and legal affairs. This means that laws and trade agreements established by the EU are not only legally binding, but actually take precedence over British Law. In fact, the duty of co-operation derived from Article 5 of the EEC Treaty that member states are under a duty to apply Community law in an effective way, and that their courts are under a duty to interpret national law in accordance Community to the full possible extent, and also to provide effective remedies for breaches of Community law. British business law has been affected greatly by this as it means that new British laws which are passed have to be in accordance with current EU laws.