Explainer: Pros and cons of a customs union for Brexit Britain

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The British parliament will on Monday hold a second round of indicative votes on various Brexit alternatives, and the customs union could emerge as a preferred solution for lawmakers who have rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's deal.

布鲁塞尔（路透社） - 英国议会将于周一就各种英国退欧替代方案举行第二轮指示性投票，关税同盟可能成为拒绝总理特蕾莎梅的交易的立法者的首选解决方案。

A customs union would allow an easier flow of goods between reduce, but would not itself guarantee frictionless trade and would limit, but not prevent, Britain's capacity to strike its own free trade deals.

关税同盟将允许货币更容易流通减少，但本身并不能保证无贸易交易，并且会限制但不能阻止英国打击自己的自由贸易协议的能力。

HOW INDEPENDENT？

如何独立？

The European Union is itself a customs union and is also part of three other customs unions with Andorra, San Marino and Turkey.

欧盟本身就是一个关税同盟，也是安道尔其他三个关税同盟的一部分，圣马力诺和土耳其。

In the case of Turkey, the arrangement does not include agricultural or coal and steel products. Other goods can circulate without paying customs duties and the whole zone applies the same import duties for products from third countries - such as the 10 percent rate for imported cars.

就土耳其而言，该安排不包括农业或煤炭和钢铁产品。其他货物可以在不支付关税的情况下流通，整个区域对来自第三国的产品征收相同的进口关税 - 例如进口汽车的10％。

Unlike a free trade deal, a customs union removes the need for complex rules to determine whether a good is really from a given partner - such as a machine with multiple imported components. Such “rules of origin” can prove costly and time-consuming for exporters.

与自由贸易不同交易，关税同盟消除了对复杂规则的需求，以确定商品是否真的来自给定的合作伙伴 - 例如具有多个导入组件的机器。这样的“原产地规则”对出口商而言可能是昂贵且耗时的。

Being a member of a customs union limits, but does not prevent the separate participants from striking their own free trade agreements with other countries.

成为关税同盟的成员限制，但并不妨碍单独的参与者自由行动与其他国家的贸易协定。

Turkey, the junior partner in the customs union with the EU, does face a challenge. The EU's recent free trade deal with Japan opens Turkey up to inbound Japanese cars without providing reciprocal access for Turkish products to Japan's market.

土耳其是与欧盟关税同盟的初级合伙人，确实面临挑战。欧盟最近与日本达成的自由贸易协议使土耳其向入境日本汽车开放，而没有为土耳其产品向日本市场提供互惠接触。

The junior customs union partner, which Britain would likely be, can find itself playing catch-up with a reducing bargaining position, given their own market is already open.

初级关税同盟合作伙伴，英国很可能是鉴于他们自己的市场已经开放，可以发现自己正在追逐降低讨价还价的地位。

Turkey did for example begin a free trade deal covering goods with South Korea in 2013, two years after an EU-South Korea came into effect. It remains in exploratory talks with Canada, whose deal with the EU began in 2017.

例如土耳其开始与韩国签订货物的自由贸易协议2013年，欧盟 - 韩国实施两年后。它仍在与加拿大进行探索性谈判欧盟于2017年开始实施。

However, Turkey is free is in those areas not covered by the customs union. So, following their agreement on goods, Turkey and South Korea also struck in 2015 a bilateral deal covering services and investment.

但是，土耳其免税是在关税同盟未涵盖的地区。因此，在他们就货物达成协议后，土耳其和韩国也在2015年达成了一项涵盖服务和投资的双边协议。

Depending on the nature of an EU-Britain customs union, Britain would still be able to negotiate with others trade access covering its large financial services market, investment, public procurement, data flows and possibly agricultural quotas.

取决于欧盟 - 英国关税同盟的性质，英国仍然可以与其他人进行谈判，包括其大型金融服务市场，投资，公共采购，数据流和可能的农业配额。

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FRICTIONLESS TRADE

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Delays that can even extend beyond 24 hours at the EU-Turkish land border show that a customs union in itself is no guarantee of frictionless trade.

在欧盟 - 土耳其陆地边界甚至可能超过24小时的延误表明，关税同盟本身并不能保证无摩擦贸易。

Turkish trucks laden with goods bound for the European Union still need to show documents including export declarations and invoices and transport permits for each EU country through which the truck plans to travel.

土耳其语满载欧盟货物的卡车仍然需要出示卡车计划通过的每个欧盟国家的出口报关单和发票以及运输许可证。

So far the EU has limited deals on road transport access to countries that accept free movement of people, such as Norway and Switzerland.

到目前为止欧盟对接受挪威和瑞士等人民自由流动的国家的公路运输交易限制有限。

The controls come despite Turkey having aligned its legislation with certain EU internal market rules, such as covering product standards, intellectual property rights and competition controls.

控制措施c尽管土耳其已将其立法与某些欧盟内部市场规则保持一致，例如涵盖产品标准，知识产权和竞争控制。

Goods also can be subject to inspections at the border to confirm they comply with EU regulations.

货物也可能在边境检查确认它们符合欧盟法规。

HARD IRISH BORDER

HARD IRISH BORDER

A customs union would ease the flow of goods across the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but would appear unlikely on its own to prevent a hard border.

关税同盟将缓解货物流通过边境爱尔兰和北爱尔兰，但似乎不太可能单独阻止边界。

It would need to go beyond the EU-Turkey union to cover agricultural produce, notably dairy and beef. Britain would then find itself bound to retain EU measures to prevent diseases, pests and contaminants in plants and animals.

它需要超越欧盟 - 土耳其联盟，以涵盖农产品，特别是乳制品和牛肉。然后，英国将发现自己必须保留欧盟措施，以防止植物和动物的疾病，害虫和污染物。

The EU and New Zealand already have such an agreement on sanitary measures without yet having a free trade deal, which for example allows New Zealand to export to the EU more than 200,000 tonnes of lamb.

欧盟和新西兰已经就卫生措施达成了这样的协议有自由贸易协议，例如允许新西兰更多地出口到欧盟超过200,000吨羊肉。

A customs union, together with requirements to meet EU single market rules on products, which would be subject to European Court of Justice control.

关税同盟，以及符合欧盟单一市场产品规则的要求，这些规则将受欧洲法院控制。

Such an enhanced customs union would not so much replace as resemble the “backstop” agreed between London and Brussels, but rejected by British lawmaker, in which Britain would enter a “single customs territory” with the EU and Northern Ireland would be subject to additional EU single market rules.

这样一个强化的关税同盟不会像伦敦和布鲁塞尔之间达成的“支持”那样取代，而是被英国立法者所拒绝，英国立法者将进入“单一关税区”。欧盟和北爱尔兰将受到欧盟单一市场规则的限制。