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Trade Negotiations
Insights July 2008 
A report which “does not
mince its words” and puts
Europe in the dock
On April 9 2008 Christiane Taubira,
a left-wing member of the French
National Assembly, was asked by
French President Nicolas Sarkozy
to examine ways of relaunching the
Economic Partnership Agreements
(EPAs) between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)
countries and to help clarify the French position during its Presidency of the
Council of the European Union (FPEU). The President’s letter of appointment
specifically requested Taubira to look at how to restore confidence between the
partners, what leverage is available to help the EU encourage ACP countries to
negotiate and conclude comprehensive regional EPAs and how to ensure that
these agreements support current trends towards regional integration.
ICTSD, ECDPM June 2008.
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Trade Negotiations
Insights June 2008
In this issue: (1) Glass half empty or half full? The move
towards a comprehensive EPA. (2) Aid for Trade in the agricultural sector:
reflections on a fruitful dialogue. (3) Aid for Trade: Key issues in the ACP
agricultural sector. (4) Trade and innovation in the EPAs: Another step towards
re-framing TRIPS. (5) Rules of origin for fish in interim EPAs. (6) In focus: Understanding Kenya:
post-election crisis, land and the interim EPA. (6) Monitoring and evaluating the EPA in Mauritius:
Setting up mechanisms. (7) WTO Roundup. (8) EPA Negotiations Update.
ICTSD, ECDPM June 2008.
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CARIFORUM-EU ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT:
An Overview
EU DG Trade has published this information paper on the CARIFORUM EPA, which was initialled on 16 December 2007
between the European Union and the CARIFORUM countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican
Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
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The EU-CARIFORUM EPA on services investments and E-Commerce implications for other ACP countries
This analytical note by South Centre provides
an overview of key provisions related to trade in services in the Cariforum
EPA text and comments on the possible implications for other ACP
countries in Africa and the Pacific, which may soon initiate negotiations
for the reciprocal liberalisation of trade in services with Europe.
South Centre May 2008.
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Trade Negotiations
Insights May 2008
In this issue: (1) Bridging the divide: The SACDC EPA. (2) Partnership or power play? EPAs
fail the development test. (3) In focus: Building an EPA services deal: An important
tool for services development in the Comoros. (4) EPA stocktaking: Urgency for a development
contest. (5) MFN in the Cariforum EPA is no threat to South-South trade. (6) ECOWAS CET: The
imperatives of Nigeria's fith band. (7) WTO Roundup. (8) EPA Negotiations Update.
ICTSD May 2008.
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Partnership or Power Play? How
Europe should bring development into its trade deals with
African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries
Europe is negotiating new
trade deals with African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP)
countries. A true partnership in trade could radically
transform the lives of one-third of all people living in
poverty, providing farmers and small businesses with
sustainable incomes and workers with decent jobs. But
according to this Oxfam Briefing Paper Europe is choosing
power politics over partnership. The deals currently on the
table would strip ACP countries of important policy tools they
need in order to develop. They would fracture regional
integration, exacerbate poverty and make it harder for
countries to break away from commodity dependence. Oxfam April
2008. |
Market Access for trade in goods in
Economic Partnership Agreements
This Fact Sheet comments on
the CARIFORUM EPAs and the interim EPAs and annexes and
assesses the extent to which they have utilised flexibilities
contained in WTO Agreements as well as on the priorities
identified under regional integration schemes. Examples are
often derived from the text initialled by CARIFORUM countries,
since that is the only comprehensive (and more definitive)
text initialled to date. |
Trade Negotiations Insights April
2008
In this issue: (1) Interim
EPAs in Africa: What's in them? And what's next? (2) The legal
status of the initialled EPAs. (3) Accommodating regional
realities: practical issues and challenges for the SADC EPA
negotiations. (4) In focus: Renegotiate the Cariforum EPA. (5)
LCDs rising: The growth of technical capacity. (6) WTO
Roundup. (7) EPA Negotiations Update. ICTSD April
2008. |
Eclairage sur les Négociations
Avril 2008
Dans cette édition: (1) Les
APE intérimaires en Afrique: Que contiennent-ils? Et quelle
est la suite? (2) Statut juridique des APE paraphés. (3) Prise
en compte des réalités régionales: Questions et défis pour les
négociations APE dans la SADC. (4) Focus: Renégocier l'APE du
Cariforum. (5) Essor des PMA: Hausse de la capacité technique.
(6) Aperçu sur l’OMC. (7) Le point sur les négociations APE.
ICTSD Avril 2008. |
On the importance of monitoring
Economic Partnership Agreements: Principles and concrete steps
for the negotiations and beyond
As the contours and
implications of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)
between the EU and the ACP emerge, it is becoming clear that
careful consideration needs to be given to the challenges of
their implementation. Although people are growing more aware
of the importance of monitoring the implementation and impact
of EPAs, little thought has been given so far to the possible
details of a monitoring mechanism. This paper outlines the
whys, whats, hows and whos of monitoring EPAs. ECDPM March
2008. |
The new EPAs: Comparative analysis
of their content and the challenges for
2008
This ECDPM report provides a
very comprehensive analysis of the trade regimes for Africa
that on 1 January 2008 replaced the Cotonou Partnership
Agreement (CPA), the negotiations that remain to be completed
and the challenges facing Africa in implementation, some of
which require support from Europe. Part A provides an analysis
of the liberalisation that African states have agreed to
undertake in relation to imports from the European Union (EU)
and vice versa and key features of the main texts of the
interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Part B reviews
the process that culminated in the initialling of interim EPAs
by some ACP states but not by others to learn the lessons,
reviews the future options for both current signatories and
non-signatories and assesses the aid for trade (AfT)
modalities. ECDPM 31 March 2008. |
Economic Partnership Agreements: A
‘historic step’ towards a ‘partnership of
equals’?
This ODI paper argues that the
(interim) EPAs initialled between the EU and less than half of
all ACP states at the end of last year do not represent a
‘historic step’ in EU-ACP relations. The majority of EPAs
concluded to date are neither complete nor comprehensive trade
agreements. Almost all signatory states were countries that
would bear substantial economic costs if they lost their
preferences in the EU market. Many ACP states submitted
hastily drawn up liberalisation schedules that did not
consider whether their liberalisation commitments were in line
with their neighbour. This has significant implications for
future regional integration processes. To revise individual
timetables and bring them into line on a regional basis, as
envisaged by the Commission, will be a mammoth task. It is
further argued that the enforcement of the EPA implementation
is unlikely in some cases given the decreasing attractiveness
of the EU market, and the Commission’s dwindling capacity to
sanction non-compliance by withdrawing preferences. If the EU
wants to see EPAs implemented, it is vital that both the
process and outcome are owned and supported by both sides.
Overseas Development Institute 2008. |
EPA Negotiations: State of play and
strategic considerations for the way
forward
This Analytical Note by South
Centre describes the process that led to the conclusion, in
the last hours of 2007, of interim EPAs between the EU and 20
ACP countries as well as of a comprehensive EPA with the 15
CARIFORUM states. It overviews the contents of these
agreements and comments on some elements related to their
consistency with WTO rules. On each topic, the note highlights
the developmental implications of the texts that have been
initialled. Finally, it overviews some of the main challenges
that ACP governments face now in the EPA negotiations and
provides suggestions regarding strategic options for the way
forward. |
Trade Negotiations Insights March
2008
In this issue: (1)MFN
provisions in EPAs: A threat to South-South trade? (2)
Nigerian cocoa processors to lose millions. (3) The trials and
tribulations of Nigerian cocoa processors. (4) The EAC interim
agreement: An overview. (5) Uganda's EPA: Getting the process
'right'. (6) The EAC interim EPA and Rwanda. (7) Action
stations: Advancing a pro-poor services agenda in trade
negotiations in 2008. (8) GI rules: Potential and implications
for African countries. (9) WTO Roundup. (10) EPA Negotiations
Update. ICTSD March 2008.
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Eclairage sur les
Négociations Mars 2008
Dans cette édition: (1)
Clauses NPF dans les APE: Une menance pour le commerce
Sud-Sud? (2) Le secteur de la transformation du cacao
nigérian va perdre des millions. (3) Épreuves et
tribulations des opérateurs nigérians de la
transformation du cacao. (4) L'accord intérimaire de la
CAE: Un aperçu. (5) L'APE de l'Ouganda: S'assurer que le
processus soit le bon. (6) L'APE intérimaire de la CAE
et le Rwanda. (7) Prendre position: Promouvoir un agenda
des services axé sur la réduction de la pauvreté dans
les négotications comerciales en 2008. (8) Les
indications géographiques: Potentiel et implications
pour les pays africains. (9)Aperçu sur l’OMC. (10) Le
point sur les APE. ICTSD Mars
2008. | |
EPA Negotiations in the Caribbean
Region: Some Issues of Concern
This Analytical Note by South
Centre explores some of the main challenges related to the EPA
negotiations in the CARIFORUM ACP region, particularly with
respect to Market Access and regional integration,
Agriculture, Manufacturing, and trade in Services. This note
highlights some of the region’s main concerns and explores
some possible positive linkages between the EPAs and the WTO
Doha Round of negotiations in an effort to increase
negotiators’ understanding about the EPA developmental
implications. |
Trade Negotiations Insights Februar
2008
In this issue:(1) EPA deals as
stepping stones or stumbling blocks? (2) An interview with DG
Development Commissioner Louis Michel. (3) CARIFORUM EPA
negotiations: An initial reflection. (4) Lessons Learned: The
Carribean EPA market access offer. (5) The usual last-minute
banana peels. (6) An interview with Sir John Kaputin:
Secretary General of the ACP Group. (7) Public procurement and
EPAs. (8) ACP farmers' organisations and EPAs: From a whisper
to a roar in two short years. (9)WTO Roundup. (10) EPA
Negotiations Update. ICTSD Februar 2008. |
Six common misconceptions about
Economic Partnership Agreements
(EPAs)
The European Commission has
published this paper to adress what they feel to be
misconceptions of the negotiation process and the aims of the
recently initialled Economic Partnership
Agreements.
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Update: Economic Partnership
Agreements
This EU press release provides
an comprehensive update on the ongoing EPA negotiation process
and the new interim agreements. There is also an overview of
the content of these interim agreements with the different ACP
regions. |
The Cotonou Partnership Agreement:
What role in a changing world?
When the Cotonou Partnership
Agreement (CPA) was signed in June 2000 it was heralded as an
innovative framework for development, adapted to the needs of
international cooperation in the early 21st century. Cotonou
will be there until 2020, but after one third of its
life-span, it is good to assess to what extent it delivers on
its multiple promises. Has the CPA really contributed to more
and better development in the ACP? Has the CPA been able to
increase ownership and bring about greater equality in the
partnership between the EU and the ACP? What progress has been
realised in terms of implementation? There are also more
fundamental questions about the future of the CPA and the
longstanding ACP-EU cooperation: will the CPA ‘survive’ and
remain relevant in a rapidly changing world? What will be its
added value? ECDPM aims to promote a constructive debate on
these crucial issues. This report, which is largely based on a
multi-stakeholder seminar is composed of three parts. Chapter
I is framing the debate, in chapter II, it reflects on the
actual progress of the CPA implementation in its key areas of
innovation and in chapter III it reassesses the relevance of
the CPA in light of major political changes in the global and
overall ACP-EU context. |
Voices of the South No. 10 2007:
EU'S 'EPA' TASTES SOUR TO ACP
Voices of the South on
Globalization is a monthly newsletter intended to inspire a
meaningful North-South Dialogue by raising awareness for
global interdependences and by offering a forum for voices
from the South in the globalization debate. This edition of
October 2007 presents short analyses and commentaires from a
southern perspective on the Economic Partnership
Agreements. |
A two-stage agreement risks being
an ‘EPA tight’
As the EPA crunch-time looms,
the European Commission appears to have pulled back from its
threat to end trade privileges given to African, Caribbean and
Pacific countries unless they sign a comprehensive agreement
on time. The EU is now prepared to sign an interim deal on
goods only. Remaining controversial issues – such as trade in
services or measures to strengthen competitiveness – could
then be negotiated in a second stage in 2008. 1 But will this
stage ever come? ECDPM 23 October 2007. |
From legal Commitments to Practice.
Monitoring Economic Partnership
Agreements
Although people are growing
more aware of the importance of monitoring the implementation
and impact of EPAs, little thought has been given so far to
the possible details of a monitoring mechanism. ECDPM has
engaged in and encouraged debate on this issue, with its
partners and through a consultative process. In view of the
imminent deadline for the conclusion of the EPAs, and the
information needs of the negotiating parties and the many
different actors involved, this discussion paper seeks to
share the key conclusions and recommendations emerging from
this work. |
Crossing development red lines?
Toward a technical analysis of implications of EC proposals
for EPA provisions
The first part of this brief
draws on experts’ technical analysis to give guidance on the
necessary shifts in approach to the negotiating process. The
second part highlights some of the key issues in each area of
the talks that need attention to achieve the best outcome for
poor producers and traders in ACP countries. This briefing is
based on an expert session held in Brussels on 13 September
2007 involving the following organisations: Aprodev, Christian
Aid, CIEL, ECDPM, IARC (University of Manchester), ICTSD,
Oxfam, SouthCentre, and UNCTAD. |
Does trade liberalisation lead to
better governance? An analysis of the proposed ACP/EU Economic
Partnership Agreements
Against the background auf the
EPA negotiations between the EU and the ACP States this study
by the Hamburg Institute of International Economics examines
the question whether and how trade liberalisation, regional
integration and foreign aid can improve or enhance the
excutive and thus may lead to a better
governance. |
Lettre Citoyenne No.
2
La
Plateforme des acteurs de la société civile au Bénin (PASCIB)
vient de rendre public le second numéro de sa publication
intitulée "Lettre citoyenne", pour le coup avec un article par
les Accords de Partenariat Économique. La Lettre citoyenne est
une publication d'engagement citoyen à travers laquelle les
acteurs de la société civile au Bénin se prononcent sur les
enjeux de la gouvernance économique et de la coopération
internationale. Elle est rèalisée par la PASCIB avec l'appui
technique et rédactionnel du Réseau des journalistes
économiques du Bénin, sur financement de la Friedrich Ebert
Stiftung. |
Eclairage sur les Négociations
Octobre 2007
Dans cette édition: (1) APE:
Vision, foi ou aveuglement? (2) Commerce de sucre ACP-UE et
APE: Une recette douce-amère. (3) Un entretien avec: Arvin
Boolell et Mariann Fischer Boel. (4) Focus: Produits sensibles
et spéciaux. (5) Ne signez pas les APE: La société civile
condamne des accords contreproductifs. (6) La CNUCED met les
pays en développement en garde contre les ALE. (7) Les APE
peuvent-ils améliorer la gouvernance dans les pays ACP? (8)
DPI: Eléments à prendre en considération. (9) Les ACP doivent
faire pression en faveur d'un Plan B. (10) Aperçu sur l'OMC.
(11) Le point sur les négociations APE. (12) Calendrier &
publications. |
Trade Negotiations Insights October
2007
In this issue: (1) EPAs:
Vision, faith or blindness? (2) EU-ACP sugar trade and the
EPAs: Taking the sweet with the sour. (3) An interview with:
Avrin Boolell and Mariann Fischer Boel. (4) In Focus:
Sensitive and special products. (5) Don't sign the EPAs: Civil
society condemns fruitless deals. (6) UNCTAD warns developing
countries on FTAs. (7) Can EPAs improve governance in ACP
countries? (8) IPRs: Elements for consideration. (9) ACP must
push for Plan B. (10) WTO Roundup. (11) EPA Negotiations
Update. (12) Calendar & Resources. |
Partnership under
Pressure
This report co-authored by
CAFOD accuses the European Union of using unfair tactics –
including the threat of aid cuts - to enforce the Economic
Partnership Agreement trade deals with the some of the world’s
poorest countries. |
Eclairage sur les Négociations
Septembre 2007
Dans cette édition: (1) APE:
Il n'y a pas de Plan B. Un entretien avec Peter Mandelson. (2)
Suivi des APE: Nécessité de s'engager. (3) Grillé? Le secteur
de la pêche et les investissements européens. (3) Arguments en
faveur des Seuils de développement. (4) Focus: Commerce des
services. Une menace pour le commerce intra-régional. (5) Une
recette pour le developpement durable. (6) L'UE et le
Pacifique s'accorchent sur le financement des APE. (7) Conflit
sur l'aide entre le Pacifique et l'UE: Le lien entre l'aide et
les APE. (8) Aperçu sur l'OMC (9) Le point sur les
négociations APE. ICTSD Septembre 2007. |
Trade Negotiations Insights
September 2007
In this issue: (1) EPAs: There
is no Plan B. An interview with Peter Mandelson. (2)
Monitoring EPAs: The need to engage. (3) Sink or Swim? EU
investments in ACP fisheries. (4) The case for Development
Benchmarks. (5) In focus: Trade in services. A threat to
intra-regional trade. (6) A recipe for sustainable
development. (7) EU, Pacific clash over EPA funds. (8)
Pacific, EU aid dispute: The link between aid and EPAs. (9)
WTO Roundup. (10) EPA Negotiations Update. ICTSD September
2007. |
EPA Negotiations in the Central
African Region: Some issues for
consideration
This South Centre Analytical
Note explores some of the main challenges that the countries
of the EPA Central African region face in the EPA negotiating
process, including with respect to its interfaces with WTO
negotiations. After reviewing some major production and trade
patterns of the region, it highlights the region’s concerns in
trade negotiations in an effort to increase negotiators’
understanding about the EPA developmental
implications. |
Designing a monitoring instrument
for EPAs: Methodological issus
A monitoring instrument for
EPA negotiations and implementation has been suggested by many
actors in both the ACP and the EU, with the aim of assessing
the progress of EPAs against the goals set out in the CPA and
the development objectives of the ACP countries and regions.
The purpose of this UNU-CHRIS working paper is to provide an
overview and assessment of the methodological issues
encountered in the design of a monitoring instrument for
EPAs. |
Legal and institutional issues of
the EPA negotiations
The Economic Partnership
Agreements (EPAs) are due to be concluded by 31 December 2007,
so as to enter into force by 1 January 2008. All parties are
currently committed to the timely conclusion of the EPA
negotiations this year. However, some African, Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP) regions or countries may not find themselves in
a position to do so. In this context, this study reviews the
legal commitments and institutional arrangements necessary for
the timely conclusion of the EPA negotiations and their
application by 2008. It also considers the legal and
institutional consequences of the failure by an ACP country or
EPA regional grouping to sign an EPA by the end of 2007 or to
later ratify it. |
Adressing the fiscal effects of an
EPA
This EDPM study examines the
effects of the EPAs on ACP countries' economies, which will
replace the three decades lasting preferential trade regime
with the European Union. |
Economic Partnership Agreements:
What happens in 2008
As a matter of fact time is
short for the EPA negotiations if they are to be implemented
in the end of 2007. Though they are likley to be very detailed
agreements, the discussion of these details has barley begun.
This ODI Briefing Paper tries to identify some
solutions. |
| "Accord de Partenariat Econ |
