The economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the EU and six countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, (the SADC EPA group) – has come into effect, the European Commission announced on Monday 10 October. On that same day, the Council of the EU ratified, without debate, the agreement on gradual, asymmetrical trade liberalisation, compatible with WTO rules. It breaks with the unilateral preferences of the Cotonou Agreement which will expire in 2020.
The consent of the European Parliament, given in Strasbourg on 4 September, paved the way for ratification by the EU of the agreement that was signed on 10 June of this year (see EUROPE 11624 and 11564).
Under the terms of the agreement, five of the African countries will liberalise 86% of their markets and Mozambique 74% over 10 years, with the exceptions of agricultural and fisheries products. In return, the EU will guarantee immediate duty-free, quota-free access to its market for products from Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland, while South Africa will be granted enhanced market access, going beyond its existing bilateral trade, development and cooperation agreement that has linked it to the EU since 1999.
EU producers of traditional quality products which enjoy international renown, such as wines and food products, will now have the exclusive right to use their traditional denominations and geographical indications in South Africa. In return, a number of South African denominations, such as the wine Stellenbosch, rooibos and others, will be protected on the EU market.
The Parliament called on the Commission to ensure scrutiny of the implementation of the EPA by the Parliament and civil society.
For the EPA formally to come into force, the national parliaments of the 28 EU member states still have to complete their ratification procedures.
European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström repeats, in a press release, all the benefits she expects of this agreement which the two parties have taken almost 16 years to conclude. “The agreement that we’re putting in place will support sustainable economic growth and regional integration in southern Africa and is designed to help lift people out of poverty in the years to come”, she says. Her colleague at International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica highlights that the EPA, which has always been presented by the EU as a development instrument, can deliver sustainable development. “ Private sector development and trade are significant drivers to lift people out of poverty and implement the new global agenda of Sustainable Development Goals”, he states.
The EU is the largest trading partner of the SADC EPA group. In 2015, the EU imported goods worth almost €32 billion from the region, mostly minerals and metals. It exported goods worth nearly the same value, consisting mostly of engineering, automotive and chemical products. Total trade between the EU and the SADC EPA Group (including Angola) amounts to €63 billion.
The text of the EPA was published in the Official Journal of the EU L250 of 16 September: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2015/october/tradoc_153915.pdf (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)