  We discuss the nuclear EMC effect with particular emphasis on recent data for
light nuclei including 2H, 3He, 4He, 9Be, 12C and 14N. In order to verify the
consistency of available data, we calculate the \chi^2 deviation between
different data sets. We find a good agreement between the results from the NMC,
SLAC E139, and HERMES experiments. However, our analysis indicates an overall
normalization offset of about 2% in the data from the recent JLab E03-103
experiment with respect to previous data for nuclei heavier than 3He. We also
discuss the extraction of the neutron/proton structure function ratio F2n/F2p
from the nuclear ratios 3He/2H and 2H/1H. Our analysis shows that the E03-103
data on 3He/2H require a renormalization of about 3% in order to be consistent
with the F2n/F2p ratio obtained from the NMC experiment. After such a
renormalization, the 3He data from the E03-103 data and HERMES experiments are
in a good agreement. Finally, we present a detailed comparison between data and
model calculations, which include a description of the nuclear binding, Fermi
motion and off-shell corrections to the structure functions of bound proton and
neutron, as well as the nuclear pion and shadowing corrections. Overall, a good
agreement with the available data for all nuclei is obtained.
