Ceuta, city between two seas...
	Ceuta
	Alice's hometown is Ceuta, a small Spanish enclave on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar.  Fast-ferry services connect it with the Spanish port of Algeciras, on the European mainland, only 12 nautical miles across one of the world's busiest shipping-lanes.  The city has no airport, but an helicopter-service connects it to Malaga's international airport.
	Economy
	Ceuta's economy is driven by a number of activities: the intercontinental traffic of people between Europe (Algeciras) and Africa (Ceuta), via the various ferry-services;  the presence of the Spanish military in Ceuta; the cross-border traffic of goods, legally bought in Ceuta, but illegally introduced into Morocco by some 20.000 visitors from Morocco that visit Ceuta daily; services, and some industry.  Resuming one could say that the development of the economic situation of Ceuta is far behind most other areas of Spain and the EU.
	Border
	The Ceuta-Moroccan border is closed for traffic of goods.  The Moroccan government protects the Moroccan port of Tangiers, also on the Moroccan north-coast, by not allowing import of goods through the border with Spanish Ceuta.
	Origin
	In order to improve the economy of this enclave with 70.000 inhabitants, special regulations for the origin of goods produced in Ceuta were made to attract industrial investment and to stimulate commercial exchanges between Ceuta and the EU.
	Political backgrounds
	The City of Ceuta has special attention from both the Spanish government and the EU council, due to a fragile economy. Ceuta is a ‘ciudad autonoma’ , which means that it has it’s own parliament and local government.  In this respect Ceuta is as independent as the Spanish regions, that also have their own governments and parliaments.  The local government is presided by the alcalde (mayor) of the city.  Besides this governing body, there is the ‘delegacion del gobierno’.  This body should be seen as the local representation of the Spanish government in Madrid.  Both of these governing bodies treat the development of new industries as an absolute priority.
	Legal backgrounds
	The special laws of origin for Ceuta  are laid down in EU regulation no. CE 82/2001 (this regulation replaces the previous one, CE 1135/88).  With Europe becoming a completely free internal market, the EU-council has laid down a number of special customs regulations for European territories laying outside the EU customs area.  Other such territories are The British Channel Islands, Gibraltar, French Polynesia, the Dutch Antilles, Madeira, the Azores, etc.  All of these regulations come from Brussels, where the EU-council now governs on these issues.    Regulation no. CE 82/2001 for Ceuta and Melilla lays down strict rules as to the definition of origin for products that originate in Ceuta. If considered of Ceuta  origin, products are exempted of levies and taxes when exported to the EU.   Production of food-products also has to comply with the EU sanitary regulations such as nos. CE 92/46, CE 97/78 and CE 93/43, issued by the EU council, and locally enforced by the ministry of Sanidad’ (health).  It is important to note that Ceuta forms an integral part of the EU in terms of health legislation.