|
Getting to Know the EPA: Provisions on
Agriculture
January 22,
2008
Prepared by the Information Unit of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), this electronic newsletter focuses on the RNM, trade negotiation issues within its mandate and related activities.
Getting to Know the EPA is one of a series of guides
produced by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM)
on the subject of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
between African, Caribbean and Pacific States and Europe.
This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guide is designed to
clarify basic facts about the EPA.
Does the EPA include provisions on Agriculture and
Fisheries?
Yes! There is a full chapter dedicated to agriculture and
Fisheries! Not only are the provisions under this chapter
aimed at increasing the competitiveness of this sector but
they are aimed at securing the sustainable development and
exploitation of CARIFORUM’s Agriculture and Fisheries
sector. Emphases were placed on improving diversification,
this sector’s viability, and its capacity to be a
facilitator of poverty eradication.
Has CARIFORUM Committed to ‘opening up’ all aspects of this
sector to the Europeans?
No. In addition to duty free/quota free access for all
CARIFORUM goods, CARIFORUM has been able to ensure that a
number of CARIFORUM products, including some agricultural
products are excluded indefinitely from liberalization
within the EPA to ensure that local producers are protected.
Sensitive goods have protection from liberalization in some
cases up to 25 years. Furthermore, provisions are made to
remove tariffs from 80% of goods imported from the EU
gradually over a 15 year period.
Even though CARIFORUM liberalization is phased, wouldn’t
Europe have an unfair advantage because of its ability to
subsidize their agricultural sector?
No. The EU is obligated under the EPA to eliminate export
subsidies on all agricultural products for which CARIFORUM
has agreed to liberalize. On the other hand, CARIFORUM is
not required to eliminate export subsidies which are
sanctioned by the WTO under the Agreement on Agriculture and
the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.
Have there been any funding commitments from the EU to
development Agriculture and Fisheries?
Yes. The EU has made specific commitments on development
cooperation the aim of which is to allocate funding to core
areas essential to the development of the sector. These
include
-
Improvement in the
competitiveness of potentially viable production,
including downstream processing through innovation,
training, promotion of linkages and other support
activities, in agricultural and fisheries products,
including both traditional and non traditional export
sectors;
-
Development of
export marketing capabilities, including market research,
both for trade between CARIFORUM States and trade between
the CARIFORUM States and the EU, as well as the
identification of options for the improvement of marketing
infrastructure and transportation, and the identification
of financing and cooperation options for producers and
traders;
-
Compliance with and
adoption of quality standards relating to food production
and marketing, including standards relating to
environmentally and socially sound agricultural practices
and organic and non-genetically modified foods;
-
Promotion of
private investment and public-private partnerships in
potentially viable production;
-
Improvement in the
ability of CARIFORUM operators to comply with national,
regional and international technical, health and quality
standards for fish and fish products;
-
Building or
strengthening the scientific and technical human and
institutional capability at regional level for sustainable
trade in fisheries products, including aquaculture; and
-
Supporting the
process of dialogue referred to above.
How will the denouncement of the Sugar Protocol affect
CARIFORUM Sugar Producers?
The Sugar Protocol which was signed in 1975 obligated the
EU, for an indefinite period, to guarantee ACP sugar
producers access to the EU market for fixed quantities of
ACP sugar at preferential prices. The Protocol included a
provision for the EU or the signatory ACP States to
discontinue the specific treatment under the Protocol by the
EU or the ACP, subject to two years notice. However, that
provision did not prejudice the EU commitment to the
principles of the Protocol. As a consequence, it was
necessary for the EU to respect these commitments while
undertaking its sugar reform. The EU sugar reform, formally
adopted in 2006, became necessary after a WTO ruling
indicated that Europe’s subsidies for domestic producers
were in violation of the WTO rules on trade.
The EU sugar reform has resulted in the discontinuation of
guaranteed prices for EU sugar producers. This factor,
amongst others, required a reformulation of EU preferential
treatment of ACP sugar producers which are signatory to the
Protocol.
While the EU will discontinue the fixed price/quota
guarantees under the Protocol, ACP producers, through the
EPA, now have improved EU market access which is free from
quota or duty restrictions. The EPA has been formulated to
help countries signatory to the Protocol to adapt to the
effect of EU sugar reform, while preserving preferential
market access but with additional provisions to improve the
competitiveness of the CARIFORUM sugar sector.
How has sugar been treated in the EPA?
Under the EPA, the CARIFORUM region has gained additional
access to the EU market of 60,000 tons, which is in
excess of the 160,000 tons available under the Protocol.
This additional access will be available until the formal
end of the Protocol in September 2009. This is particularly
advantageous to the larger CARIFORUM sugar producers which
will now be able to sell more at guaranteed prices. Of the
additional amount, 30,000 tons will go to CARIFORUM Sugar
Protocol (i.e. CARICOM) countries and the remainder to the
Dominican Republic, which is not signatory to the Protocol.
While the Sugar Protocol remains in effect the EU has given
assurances that it will seek to ensure that any shortfalls
on the SP quotas are reallocated among other CARICOM
countries.
The EPA also contains a provision which commits the EU to
engage in prior consultations with CARIFORUM on any policy
developments that may impact on the competitive position of
the region’s traditional exports on the EU market, which
includes sugar. Such policy developments include changes in
the EU’s internal regulatory framework, any planned
liberalization of the sugar market by the EU at the level of
the WTO, as well as liberalization undertaken in other
bilateral free trade agreements.
What about the treatment of other traditional exports like
rice and bananas?
For a period of two years leading up to full duty-free and
quota-free access, CARIFORUM rice exporting countries will
be given quotas of 187,000 tons for 2008 and 250,000 tons
for 2009. The quotas will be duty-free compared to the
approximately €65 per tonne currently paid. The present
quota available to the ACP (Guyana and Suriname) amounts to
145,000 tonnes and the proposed quotas for 2008 and 2009
would therefore represent increases of 29% and 72%,
respectively. Furthermore, the new arrangement makes no
distinction between whole grain and broken rice, which means
that CARIFORUM exporters should be better able to target the
higher-priced market for whole grain rice, once supplies are
available. In addition, the Agreement contains a Joint
Declaration committing the EU to keeping the licensing and
other arrangements relating to the quota under review with
aim of ensuring that CARIFORUM exporters obtain the maximum
benefit from the trade.
Bananas will gain full duty-free and quota-free access to
the EU market from the inception of the EPA. In effect, the
recent ruling of the WTO dispute settlement Panel against
the EU’s preferences granted to ACP banana exporters, will
no longer be applicable since the duty-free preferences
under the EPA are now protected under WTO rules governing
free trade areas.
The Agreement also contains a comprehensive Joint
Declaration on Bananas in which the importance of the
industry to several CARIFORUM countries is fully
acknowledged, and which also recognizes the need for the EU
to maintain significant preferences for the product.
Importantly, the Declaration also commits the EU to provide
funding to assist the industry in making the necessary
adjustments, including diversification initiatives, and
addressing the social impacts that may arise from the new
trading environment.
Recipients of RNM UPDATE are
authorised to forward this newsletter to other
addresses. We welcome suggestions for additions to our
mailing list. If, on the other hand, you wish to be
removed from the list, kindly inform us.
For More Information Contact:
Marsha Drakes
Programme Officer-Trade Information
Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM)
3rd Floor The Mutual Building
Hastings Main Road
Hastings, Christ Church, Barbados
Tel: (246) 430-1678
Fax: (246) 228-9528
marsha.drakes@crnm.org
Previous issues of RNM UPDATE are archived on and can be downloaded from the RNM website:
http://www.crnm.org/rnm_updates.htm
The ‘RNM DRAFT CALENDAR 2008 ', that provides an account of hemispheric and multilateral trade meetings, is available on the RNM website.
|
