The paper analyses the degree of structural change that has occurred within the EC since the launch of the internal market programme. It is divided into three parts: the first examines inter-sectoral shifts in the pattern of specialization within EC manufacturing, and finds relatively little change from 1986 to 1992; the second describes the trade impact of 1992 with the help of consumption shares, and finds internal and external trade creation; and the third uses regression analysis to account for the ratio of intra-EC imports in total EC imports in 1986 and in 1992, and identifies the impact of the internal market programme.