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Prof Gerhard Erasmus, a tralac Associate, comments on the Interim SADC EPA: SACU's Implementation Challenges.
"The Interim SADC EPA was initialled at the end of 2007. At this stage there are many uncertainties and challenges for the SACU member states. Further negotiations (on trade in services and investment) are scheduled for 2008 before a "comprehensive" EPA will be in place. South Africa has decided not to initial this interim agreement and Namibia will not participate in the second phase of negotiations. Angola has not yet decided on its involvement.
The most immediate challenge is the implementation of this Interim EPA. The EU has already adopted a Regulation to allow for the importation of ACP goods on a DFQF basis. This has ensured uninterrupted access for vital exports such as beef and table grapes from a number of SACU producers. Certain formal steps by the Southern African members of the SADC EPA are now required to reciprocate and complete the interim arrangement with the EU.
Is there a joint policy on how to respond? How will the integrity of the common external tariff of SACU be protected? Will all the SACU members be involved in the decision on how to implement the Interim SADC EPA? What about plans for deeper integration in Southern Africa? Is there a proper and comprehensive plan for the region and where is it developed?
These important questions have to be addressed as a matter of urgency and within the context of a broader debate and wider participation. At some stage national parliaments will have to be involved and the consequences for civil society and the private sector must be recognised. The issues are technically complicated but they cannot be resolved without transparent procedures and adequate involvement of stakeholders.
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Tell us what you think...
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See last week's comment on
Regional Integration in Southern Africa: New Opportunities and old Sins.
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ASEAN committed to free trade pact with Australia, NZ: minister
Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said Sunday that ASEAN was showing strong commitment to try to wrap up negotiations on a free trade pact between the regional grouping, Australia and New Zealand.
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EAC Countries Asked to Remove Controls
The East African Community (EAC) member countries have been challenged to remove exchange controls in regard to investment in stocks to spur development in the capital markets.
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Rice Imports to Increase As Food Prices Continue to Rise
Rice breeders from 11 African countries meeting in Uganda have agreed that ambitious and critical steps were required towards ensuring self-sufficiency to boost African rice production on the backdrop of new restrictions on rice exports from Asian countries.
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Japan Wants to Strengthen Trade Relations with Country
Japan has expressed interest in strengthening the co-operation and trade relations with Angola, according to Akira Amari, the Japanese minister of the Economy, Commerce and Industry.
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Beef Issue Threatens FTA Ratification
The Korea-U.S. free trade agreement could fail to get ratification in the 17th National Assembly amid growing concerns about and backlash against the resumption of U.S. beef imports.
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MPs want Uganda out of EAC-EU trade deal
Uganda Parliamentarians are claiming that the partial Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed at the close of last year entrenches "unfair treatment" of the five-member bloc and are pressurising Uganda to revoke the interim trade agreement signed between the European Union and the East African Community.
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Commodity price boom presents 'an unprecedented challenge of global proportions'
According to international officials, crops are fetching far higher prices in markets across the globe while farmers in poor countries have not seen their incomes rise as a result.
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Nalo appeals to Africa over exports
"African countries risk losing out in the global commodity boom unless they add value to their exports."
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Ghana: Akufo-Addo discusses African unity with President Mkapa
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said that Ghana and Tanzania should serve as the vanguards for energising movements for the accelerated development of the continent by way of the free movement of goods, services, people and ideas.
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US, Mauritius meet to discuss TIFA in Washington [Press release]
Officials from the United States and Mauritius met in Washington, DC on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of the United States-Mauritius Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
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EU ponders next step in EPA negotiations
As a result of the reluctance of many countries from Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) to sign the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) which are currently being negotiated, the European Union (EU) is considering the way forward, five months after the expiry of the December 31 deadline set by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
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tralac - the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa - aims at
increasing trade law capacity in Southern Africa.
Read more about us
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| Event: |
tralac Annual Conference 2008 |
| Date: |
12 to 13 June 2008 |
| Details: |
Details will be posted later. |
| Contact: |
For more information, please contact us at events@tralac.org |
| Event: |
Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (World Bank Conference) |
| Date: |
09 to 11 June 2008 |
| Place: |
Cape Town, South Africa |
| Download: |
Download the program and registration documents here |
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New AGOA trade data to March out this week
All trade data will be updated on AGOA.info following the release of March 2008 data this Friday. Current trade data is to February, and shows a recorded 49% year-on-year increase in aggregate exports from AGOA countries to the US. Approximately 80% of this trade utilised AGOA preferences. However, much of the growth this year is a result of higher oil exports from Nigeria, Angola and Gabon, although South Africa (as the fourth largest AGOA exporter overall) also saw its AGOA-eligible exports rise by over 50% on a year-on-year basis. View aggregate AGOA export data by country
here.
Other AGOA data sections include disaggregated bilateral trade profiles for each AGOA
country (and regional configuration),
aggregate bilateral trade, preferential trade under AGOA / GSP and sectoral data from AGOA-eligible countries by value and as a proportion of US imports as well as sectoral "new AGOA" and "GSP AGOA"
data. Textile data, which is categorised by rules-of-origin category (for example, it distinguishes garments made from local or third country fabric), is available both by value and by volume. Quota utilisation
levels
for the 2006/7 quota year, (running from October 2006 to September 2007), preference utilisation was 21.05%, while the fill rate under the LDC sub-quota was 36.63%. For details of the new 2007/2008 clothing quota, click here. Quota utilisation data for the first four months of the 2007/2008 quota period (to March 2008) was 8.02%.
Follow these links to diagrams showing
clothing exports under AGOA, and Quota
utilisation during the current quota period.
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Mauritius to benefit from third country fabric provisions?
In January 2007, a US Bill (H.R.5059) authored by Congressman Jim McDermott was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means as part of the legislative process for it to be written into law. This Bill proposed re-classifying Mauritius with respect to the apparel provisions, allowing exporters to use third country fabrics (a similar amendment was undertaken a few years earlier with respect to Namibia and Botswana). While this Bill was never passed, sources have indicated that these AGOA-related provisions have been incorporated into the Miscellaneous Trade Bill (MTB). For more on the MTB process, download this
guide from AGOA.info. H.R. 5095 is available at this
link.
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Latest AGOA news
"Experts urge effective use of regional trade openings"
- Did you know? You can search AGOA.info's
news archive
(containing almost 1,000 articles) through the built-in search functionality.
Read these and other AGOA-related news articles in AGOA.info's news area, which is continuously updated with articles sourced from a wide range of African and foreign publications.
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Best wishes
Wian Erlank
Webmaster
E-mail: wianerlank@tralac.org
Disclaimer: http://www.tralac.org/tralac/email.htm
Read trade law news daily at http://www.tralac.org.
Read more about EPAs at http://epa.tralac.org.
Read more about WTO matters at http://wto.tralac.org.
Read more about RTA matters at http://rta.tralac.org.
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