[Ip-health] Bridges: 13 caribbean nations to sign EPA with the EU in October

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

The text of the EPA is available here:  http://www.sice.oas.org/Trade/CAREU=
EPA/careu_in.ASP

13 CARIBBEAN NATIONS SET TO SIGN EPA WITH EU IN OCTOBER

BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest - Vol. 12, Number 30 17 September 2008

A group of Caribbean states agreed last week to sign an Economic
Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU by the end of October. The new
deadline represents yet another delay to the conclusion of the
agreement, which trade officials originally hoped to finalise in June.
An early September deadline has also been missed.

The agreement, one of a series of EPAs that Brussels hopes to
negotiate with groups of former European colonies, is meant to serve
as a continuation of the Cotonou Agreement, a nonreciprocal scheme
under which the EU provided duty-free access to most exports from
African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. That agreement expired at
the end of last year.

In a statement released on 11 September, the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) Secretariat clarified that, although the date to ink the
trade deal can only be finalised after further discussions with the
EU, the agreement should be concluded in time to ensure provisional
application of the EPA by the end of October.

The deal between the 15-member Caribbean Forum of African Caribbean
and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) and the EU was the focus of two high-
level meetings in Barbados last week that were billed as 'consensus
building' sessions for the EPA.

However, the recent spate of hurricanes that have caused widespread
devastation in the Caribbean region prevented heads of governments
from Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba and the
Dominican Republic were not present at the meeting.

Only two of the CARIFORUM member states -- Haiti and Guyana --
indicated at the meeting that they were not ready to sign the EPA.

The Haitian representative noted some reservations, including the fact
that the text of the final agreement varied from what was sent to the
Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery. This and other concerns
would require approval at the presidential level before any commitment
of a signature could be given, the representative said. Guyana also
said it was unwilling to sign the EPA, a position that it has long held.

Guyana against EPA, but willing to do 'goods-only' deal

Guyana's President Bharrat Jagedo remains the chief opponent of the
EPA in its present form. Jagedo has stated that he will only sign the
deal if the EU coerces him into doing so by threatening to revert to
the generalised system of preferences (GSP), which would subject
Guyanese goods to significant tariffs.

"The only reason I'm going to sign this agreement is if Europe imposes
GSP on my country because I don't have a choice; my exports are
vulnerable. But outside of that I will never subscribe to an
agreement" Jagedo told reporters at the meeting.

Guyana is not alone in its criticism of the deal. In fact, several of
the EU's potential EPA partners have raised concerns over the
development implications of trade agreements with reciprocal market
access commitments, such as the possibility of EU products flooding
their markets and harming domestic industries. They also worry about
the costs of adjustment and implementation, promises of assistance
notwithstanding.

The CARIFORUM EPA includes several issues that were taken off the
WTO's agenda because of concerns from developing countries. Jagedo
insists that by adding these Trade Related Issues (TRIs) - such as
investment, competition and government procurement - to the EPA,
Europe will have a legitimate right to lobby the WTO for these
contentious topics to be placed back on the agenda.

Furthermore, the Guyana President argued that the benefits and
protection offered by regionalism are being undermined by the
multilateral EPA. Specifically, Jagedo referred to the Most Favoured
Nation (MFN) clause, whereby any preferences the region extends to any
of its other partners must also be extended to Europe. Jabgedo pointed
out Guyana has a special trade relationship with neighbour Brazil,
with whom they may want to negotiate a more favourable trade deal,
but, by doing so they will be obliged to extend the privileges to
Europe.

Instead of the EPA now on the table, Jagedo has lobbied for a 'goods-
only' deal, which he claims is fully compatible with WTO requirements.
Jagedo has pointed out that other countries and regions are either
still in negotiations or have initialled goods-only agreements with
the EU; the Caribbean is the only region that has initialled a full EPA.

Yet this option was rejected by other CARIFORUM members at the
Wednesday meeting, who said they did not want to renegotiate the deal
at this late stage.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding of Jamaica, who has lead responsibility
for CARICOM's external economic relations, stated that the EPA did not
undermine the viability of the CARICOM single market and economy, but
strengthened it by forcing the region to be more competitive. Golding
said in a statement that not signing the EPA would damage the
interests of the citizens.

"That is something that would have to be discussed with the European
Commission, to the extent that the agreement was negotiated on the
basis of a full EPA agreement involving not just goods, but services,
investments, intellectual property and so on. To the extent that that
was the context in which the negotiations were conducted, discussions
would have to be pursued to determine whether Guyana would have the
option of signing a limited agreement as they have indicated they
would be prepared to do," Golding said on the topic of a goods-only
agreement.

However, the European Commission has repeatedly expressed reservations
at the idea of Guyana having a goods-only deal instead of a full EPA
with the EU. Instead, the Commission maintains that full EPAs must be
signed without delay, and further that it is in the interest of the
Caribbean nations to do so, as trade liberalisation will facilitate
development and the EPA will ensure that trade relations between the
parties are in compliance with WTO rules.

The CARIFORUM pact is one of a series of EPA's the EU is currently
negotiating with the ACP group (see Trade Negotiations Insights,
September 2008, http://ictsd.net/i/news/27844/). But the progress in
negotiations is uneven and no sub-region has yet endorsed an EPA or an
interim agreement.

ICTSD reporting; "CARIFORUM agrees to sign EPA," BILATERALS, 16
September, 2008; "President Jagedo on EPA=85 CARICOM leaders could
undermine key tools protecting regional interests," KAIETEURNEWS, 12
September, 2008; "Guyana stakeholders 'roundly condemn' Cariforum
EPA," BILATERALS, 5 September, 2008; "Guyana holds out as others agree
to sign EPA," CARIBBEAN360.COM, 11 September, 2008; "EC: No to goods-
only agreement," STABROEK NEWS, 10 September, 2008.



Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney
Knowledge Ecology International / Essential Information
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
Phone: +1.202.332.2670, x18