Scotland’s Place in Europe

50 | SCOTLAND’S PLACE IN EUROPE
Schengen Area – The Schengen area covers 26 EU states and the member states of
EFTA (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) where passport and border
control has been abolished for travel between participating states. The Schengen states
operate a strengthened external border. The UK and Republic of Ireland have opted
out of Schengen, and in response to recent terror attacks and the migration crisis some
Schengen states have re-introduced temporary border controls.
Common Travel Area – The Common Travel Area maintains an open border for travel
between Ireland, the UK, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. People crossing internal
borders within the CTA are subject to no or minimal border checks and require minimal
identity documents to travel. In order to maintain the CTA there is significant cooperation
between UK and Irish border officials.
EU Acquis – The EU Acquis Communautaire, often shortened to the EU Acquis, is the
legislation, acts and court decisions which in sum form the body of European Union law.
Rules of Origin – Rules of origin are used to determine the country or origin of a
product for purposes of international trade. Countries may not apply the same trade
policy measures towards all other countries in international trade of goods, with the
consequence that there must be various legal or administrative requirements to be
fulfilled for implementing the different trade policy measures according to the different
origin of goods. This may be for example different levying of import duties, allocating
quotas, imposing anti-dumping duties or applying safeguard measures.