Both the process of formation of the Single European Market, which implies major economic and legal changes in Europe, and the results, which imply greater efficiency and growth, affect the Community's trading partners. Initial calculations have suggested that, in aggregate, the benefits for the rest of the world roughly balance the costs. But many developing countries are directly affected by individual sectoral changes. Because of the relatively high degree of specialisation of their economies and trading patterns, the effects on individual developing economies are therefore potentially large.

The changes which are likely to be most important for developing countries include: the removal of all barriers to intra-EC trade, which improves the competitiveness of EC relative to non-EC suppliers; the harmonisation of excise duties, which is helpful to coffee, tea and cocoa producers, and harmful to tobacco producers; the harmonisation of textile and clothing quotas, whose effects will ...