Commercial treaty Commercial treaty A commercial treaty is a formal agreement between states for the purpose of establishing mutual rights and regulating conditions of trade. It is a bilateral act whereby definite arrangements are entered into by each contracting party towards the other—not mere concessions. For example, the Methuen Treaty was a commercial treaty between Portugal and England. Another example, between the close of the Napoleonic wars of 1815 and the year 1860, the tariff system of Great Britain was changed from elaborate protection to practically complete free trade. An attempt had indeed been made in 1786 to modify the rigidly protective
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Maastricht treaty, which led to the formation of the European Union, saw the EEC Treaty renamed as the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) and renumbered. The Maastricht reforms also saw the creation of the European Union's three pillar structure, of which the European Community was the major constituent part. Following the 2005 referenda, which saw the failed attempt at launching a European Constitution, on 13 December 2007 the Lisbon treaty was signed. This saw the 'TEC' renamed as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and, once again, renumbered. The Lisbon reforms resulted in the merging