International customs cooperation –historical experienceand modern times

<ns3:p>The article brings closer to contemporary readers a small outline of the historical development of selected majorinternational custom agreements and organizations. The paper examines selected historical documents: from theearliest sources, such as the agreement between the kingdom of Kanesh and the city-state of Ashur (around 1900BC), through medieval agreements, among others such as agreements between Kievan Rus and Byzantium (907-944), the Polish-Teutonic trade treaty of 1243 and the agreement on the establishment of the Hanseatic League,to the convention establishing the first universal, world organisation for customs cooperation – the InternationalUnion for the Publication of Customs Tariffs (1890). The final part of the article presents the significance of theanalysed historical documents and organisations for contemporary agreements and institutional forms of internationalcustoms cooperation.</ns3:p>