European Coal and Steel Community

Organization established by the Treaty of Paris 1951 (ratified 1952) as a single authority for the coal and steel industries of France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, eliminating tariffs and other restrictions; in 1967 it became part of the European Community (now the European Union). The treaty establishing the ECSC expired in July 2002.

The ECSC arose out of the Schuman plan 1950, which proposed a union of the French and German coal and steel industries so as to make future war between the two countries impossible.

The ECSC was, in effect, a prototype institution for the European Community (EC) itself, under whose authority it came 1967. Subsequent members of the EC automatically became ECSC members also.