Whereas, after 31 December 1992, the maintenance by Member States of quantitative restrictions would be incompatible with the single market, which entails the abolition of goods controls at the Community's internal frontiers;

whereas systematic controls must therefore be abolished at intra-Community frontiers;

Whereas the new control strategy postulates the suppression of internal frontier controls and the harmonization of the control system for products coming from third countries;

Whereas fiscal controls at internal frontiers will be definitively abolished as from 1 January 1993 for all transactions between Member States;

Whereas the total abolition of controls and formalities at intra-Community frontiers entails the fulfilment of certain fundamental conditions;

Code 92.301 without the application of additional safeguards after 1 July 1992 when internal veterinary border controls are removed in the Community.

Whereas the laying down of common principles at Community level is all the more necessary given that, with the completion of the internal market in prospect, internal border controls are to be abolished;

Whereas the completion of the internal market will mean controls and formalities at internal frontiers relating to means of transport and the relevant documentation will have to be abolished;

Whereas abolition of controls on the possession of weapons at intra-Community frontiers necessitates the adoption of effective rules enabling controls to be carried out within Member States on the acquisition and possession of firearms and on their transfer to another Member State;

whereas this entails, inter alia, the abolition of controls at internal frontiers and the elimination of disparities as regards import arrangements, as well as the option of reimporting compensating products into a Member State other than that in which the prior authorization was granted;

The Protocol, signed in Bonn on 25 June 1991, on accession of the Government of the Portuguese Republic to the Agreement between the Governments of the States Members of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of controls at their common borders signed at Schengen on 14 June 1985, as amended by the Protocol on Accession by the Government of the Italian Republic, signed in Paris on 27 November 1990 and its accompanying declarations.

The Protocol, signed in Brussels on 28 April 1995, on accession of the Government of the Republic of Austria to the Agreement between the Governments of the States Members of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of controls at their common borders signed at Schengen on 14 June 1985, as amended by the Protocol on accession by the Government of the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Spain ant the Portuguese Republic, and the Hellenic Republic, signed on 27 November 1990, on 25 June 1991 and 6 November 1992 respectively.

The Protocol, signed in Madrid on 6 November 1992, on accession of the Government of the Hellenic Republic to the Agreement between the Governments of the States Members of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of controls at their common borders signed at Schengen on 14 June 1985, as amended by the Protocols on accession by the Government of the Italian Republic, signed in Paris on 27 November 1990 and by the Governments of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic, signed in Bonn on 25 June 1991, and its accompanying declaration.