The inclusion of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clauses in the EPA, that require CARIFORUM countries to extend to the EU any more favourable treatment granted to third parties in future Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), has generated some controversy. This note critically examines the arguments that have been leveled against the inclusion of these clauses from legal, and policy perspectives…

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Answers to questions posed by Havelock Brewwster in his comment. It is not known how many of the 15 CARIFORUM states and how many of the 27 EU states have ratified the EPA. The EPA has been traditionally applied, but it is not known when it will come into force.

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This update discusses the current state of play regarding the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the CARIFORUM (CF)States and the EU, referred to as CF EC EPA. It aims to address the following questions: What has been done thus far and how can both EU and CF representatives demonstrate a stronger commitment to providing public access to information concerning EPA-related developments? It shows that there is a serious public information deficit regarding the EPA and its implementation…

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Public Procurement links the issues of good governance and of economic development.The current preoccupation with eliminating corruption and securing best value for taxpayers’ money should not be allowed to obscure the equally important role of public procurement in fostering new industries and development of technological capabilities…

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Click here for Public Procurement: The Development Dimension and The EPA (slide presentation)

Dr Jane Kelsey, Professor of Law at the University of Auckland and a leading international authority on trade in services agreements, has conducted an exhaustive study of Legal Provisions on Services and Investment in the CARIFORUM-EC EPA. The eleven-chapter, 111-page study, now published by the South Centre, indentifies five principal categories of legal risk in the EPA: (i) asymmetry in favour of the EU; (ii) the unpredictable and unlimited multiplier effect of most-favoured nation and ‘regional preference’ obligations; (iii) an externally imposed regional integration model; (iv) closure of policy space; (v) complexity, uncertainty and a heightened risk of errors with no structured opportunity to correct them.

The main recommendation for Cariforum States is to utilise the Joint Declaration of the Parties on the Signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement, to be conducted pursuant to Article 5 of the EPA, which the author states is ‘the only formal opportunity to address the concerns raised  in the report’. For Non-Cariforum States, especially in the ACP grouping, the main recommendation is they ‘should assert their right not to negotiate an agreement with the EU on services and investment’.

The publication of the Kelsey Report provides an opportunity to broaden current exchanges over the EPA in the Caribbean beyond the issue of implementation of the agreement. Given the scope and extent of the legal risks identified, it would be appropriate for the legal and other academic community, trade officials, the private sector, NGOs and other stakeholders to examine the EPA text critically with a view to assessing the implications and detemining the modifications necessary to make the Agreement more in line with Cariforum/Caricom circumstances and interests. This is all the more important, in that services and investment form part of the CARICOM/Canada FTA and negotiations on these subjects are due to commence soon. Further, we are nearly two years into the period allowed for the mandatory review, and adequate preparation in support of the Caricom/Cariforum case needs to be made.

Read the Kelsey/South Centre Report

One World Action and the Commonwealth Secretariat recently published the report: Gender Justice in Trade Policy: The gender effects of Economic Partnership Agreements [1]. Based on the goods tariff liberalisation schedules agreed in Jamaica, Tanzania and Mozambique, this research provides the first detailed economy-wide analysis of the likely gender effects of EPAs…

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Jamaica Case Study

The European Union (EU)’s interest and involvement in foreign direct investment (FDI) is by no means new. However, it has only been comparatively recently that one has been able to begin to distinguish the particularities of a specific EU approach to FDI, especially when placed within a broader developmental context. The approach has been most visible during the ongoing negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping of States…

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The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)* is pleased to alert you to three new papers on key issues related to Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).

Issue Paper 1: “Environmental Issues in Economic Partnership AgreementsImplications for Developing Countries”
By Beatrice Chaytor

This paper provides a comprehensive review of all rules related to trade and environment in the final ACP-EU EPAs, as well as proposed provisions in the context of ongoing negotiations. The aim of the paper is to enable ACP countries to understand how trade policy related to the environment has been introduced in EPAs, and how those policies might impact sustainable development in ACP countries. The paper starts by presenting the current European approach on trade and environment in those agreements. More specifically, it addresses the current state of negotiations, analyses precise proposals made, and explores some of the implications of introducing environmental issues in the EPAs.

Issue Paper 2: “Legal and Systematic Issues in the Interim Economic Partnership Agreements: Which way  now?”
By Cosmas  Milton Obote Ochieng

This paper provides a legal analysis of systemic issues related to the relationship between the WTO and EPAs, including:

- The application of the Most Favourable Nation clause, Article XXIV of GATT and its relationship with EPAs;
- The effects of the “standstill” clause on bound or applied tariff rates applied to ACP countries by WTO members;
- The political and legal effects of the “Non-Execution Clause” in EPAs;
- The articulation of the dispute settlement mechanisms of EPAs and their interactions with the WTO one.

Issue Paper 3: “Trade Agreements and their Relation to Labour Standards: The current situation”
By Pablo Lazo Grandi

This study offers a political and legal review of international labour standards in trade agreements, as well as analysis of how these standards have evolved in the international trade arena. The author examines emerging trends in the negotiation of trade and labour standards at the multilateral, regional, and bilateral trade deals. The study aims to offer developing country governments and other relevant stakeholders practical guidelines on how to address these issues in international negotiations with a focus on RTAs, taking into account the experience of countries, such as Chile, that have already negotiated several of those agreements.

*The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) is a non-governmental organization, based in Geneva, which – by empowering stakeholders in trade policy through information, networking, dialogue, well-targeted research, and capacity building – seeks to influence the international trade system such that it advances the goal of sustainable development. For further information on ICTSD’s EPAs and Regionalism Programme, please see: http://ictsd.org/programmes/epas/

Updating Economic Partnership Agreements to Today’s Global Challenges – Essays on the Future of Economic Partnership Agreements. Edited by Emily Jones (Oxford) and Darlan F Marti (UNCTAD). German Marshall Fund Economic Policy Program. 19 November 2009.

African and Pacific countries continue to negotiate the challenging Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union. These new agreements have the potential to help African countries accelerate their economic growth and develop more resi lient economies. However, the presence of negotiating deadlocks or a sense of fatigue as well as the lack of real appetite for these agreements among many African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) negotiators, raise legitimate questions regarding their structure and content, as well as their ability to constitute instruments to leverage economic growth…

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This section of the toolkit provides a basic guide to the meaning of some key terms and practical examples of what they involve…

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