Benelux

Customs union of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, an agreement for which was signed in London by the three governments in exile in 1944, and ratified in 1947. It came into force in 1948 and was further extended and strengthened by the Benelux Economic Union Treaty in 1958. The full economic union between the three countries came into operation in 1960. The three Benelux countries were founder-members of the European Economic Community (now the European Union), for which the Benelux union was an important stimulus.