Report approved at the 28th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in July 2007  as ‘the framework for the development of the Community’.

CONTENTS Introductory Note/Mission Statement/I. Scope And Development Vision/II. Sectoral Economic Drivers Of Regional Development/III. Enabling Environment: Economic Policy Harmonisation/IV. Enabling Environment: Social And Institutional Structures /V. Sequencing Of Further CSME Implementation/ Annexes

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Report for the Commonwealth Secretariat, 2005.

GATT Article XXIV sets out a notoriously imprecise set of conditions under which free trade areas and customs unions are to be accepted as consistent with members’ obligations under the WTO Agreements. One of the most disputed elements is the phrase “substantially all trade” (SAT) which appears in the requirement that “duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce….are eliminated on substantially all the trade in products originating” in the partners….

Full Report

Highlights and Comment

Summary and Comment Nicolas Mombrial

Commentary and photograph (French)

Executive Summary (French)

Response from President Sarcozy (English)

Full report (French)

For each ACP country, this document summarises the ratification process including in particular whether competencies for entry into EPAs by the ACP countries lie at national level or regional level; and the process that must be followed in each case.

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Report prepared for the Commonwealth Secretariat by Dr. Chris Milner, School of Economics, University of Nottingham, October 2005

This study seeks to identify the type and scale of adjustment assistance measures that need to be implemented in the transition to an EPA in order to avoid or reduce the adjustment costs that would fall on ACP countries in the absence of this support. By identifying the types of adjustment support programmes required to increase the capacity to adapt to a post-EPA environment, the study concentrates on how to make EPAs work and bring development benefits for the ACP countries…
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Summary Outcomes of Meeting organised by the Commonwealth and the ACP Secretariat held in Cape Tow, South Africa, April 7-8, 2008

The meeting was advised that whether States had initialed a full or interim EPA there is still legal space to negotiate resolution of the contentious issues. The meeting was strongly of the view that such an opening must be followed through, and that this should not prejudice the existing preferences granted by the EU…

Full text of ‘Cape Town Outcomes’

Papers and reports from the Cape Town Meeting can be accessed at http://www.thecommonwealth.org/doclist/159719/159720/152996/177203/high_level_technical_meeting_on_epas/

ODI Working Paper 288, March 2008

This 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..

Link to  ‘EPAs: A ‘Partnership of Equals..