Section Menu

Economic Partnership Agreements - Update

To date (19 January 2008), 35 countries have signed goods-only Economic Partnership Agreements:

• East African Community: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi
• East and Southern Africa: Zimbabwe, Seychelles, Mauritius, Comoros and Madagascar
• Southern African Development Community: Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia
• Pacific: Papua New Guinea, Fiji
• West Africa: Ivory Coast and Ghana
• Central Africa: Cameroon
• Caribbean: includes - Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.

On 20 December the European General Affairs and External Relations Council met and, by Qualified Majority, adopted the Economic Partnership Agreement Regulation. This Regulation formalises the market access offer of 100% duty free quota free market access to the European Union with improved rules of origin for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries that have signed WTO-compatible agreements. The Commission will continue negotiations with other countries. Those that signed agreements before the end of 2007 will benefit from this improved access to the European Union from 1^st January. The UK, along with the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland, made a declaration, on 10 December, setting out our continued concern for non-Least Developed Countries who have not yet initialed an agreement. The Commission will report back to the General Affairs and External Relations Council in January 2008. 

GAERC Declaration on EPAs

"Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom welcome the vigorous efforts made by ACP countries and the European Commission to complete EPA negotiations by the close of 2007.

We are pleased that to date 17 ACP partners have secured significantly improved market access and opened up strong prospects for regional integration through the EPA framework.

We are also pleased that all Least Developed ACP countries will continue to receive duty free and quota free market access through their inclusion in the Everything But Arms initiative.

We regret that a number of other developing country ACP partners who are still involved in negotiations on EPAs have not been included in the Regulation and therefore face the risk of higher tariffs from January 2008.  We continue to urge the Commission to show flexibility in reaching agreements on goods market access by the end of 2007, and to avoid ACP countries being made worse off from the 1^st January."