A European body established in 1952 with France, West Germany, Italy, and the three Benelux countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) as members. It established a common market in coal and steel, abolishing tariffs and quantitative restrictions on trade in these goods between its members. It also provided for the regulation of mergers and restrictive practices, setting up a parliament to lay down the rules and a court to enforce them. The ECSC merged in 1958 into the European Economic Community, which extended the same principles to all manufactured goods.