This volume contains the proceedings of the conference ‘The Impact of 1992 on European Trade and Industry’, which was organised by the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the Centro Interuniversitario di Studi Teorici per la Politica Economica and Confindustria in Urbino on 15–16 March 1990. The programme committee comprised Stefano Micossi, Anthony J. Venables and L. Alan Winters. Much of the work reported forms part of the Centre for Economic Policy Research's programme ‘The Consequences of “1992” for International Trade’, supported by the UK Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This research is also funded by the Commission of the European Communities under the SPES programme.

We are grateful to Cillian Ryan who acted as Rapporteur for the conference, to Sarah Wellburn, Ann Shearlock and David Guthrie of the CEPR for logistical help with the conference and the volume, and to Barbara Docherty, who served as Production Editor. We are also grateful to Richard Portes, Director of the CEPR, for his support and encouragement for the conference and programme of research in general. Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi provided excellent conference facilities, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States contributed to the travel costs entailed. Finally we should express our gratitude to the participants at the conference, whose contributions to the debate and stimulating comments helped to make the conference and volume so successful. The contributions to this volume represent a small step towards the complete analysis of 1992 and, indeed, some of the institutional details discussed may change as the process of integration and the Uruguay Round run to completion.