  Recent theoretical developments in using the Interacting Boson Model to
describe nuclear structure effects in fusion reactions below the Coulomb
barrier are reviewed. Methods dealing with linear and all orders coupling
between the nuclear excitations and the translational motion are discussed, and
the latter is found to lead to a better description of the barrier distribution
data. A systematic study of the available data (cross sections, barrier and
spin distributions) in rare-earth nuclei is presented.
