EPA Review Annex Documents - DFID

3. Services coverage in the CARIFORUM-EU EPA 129
Sauve and Ward (2009) explain that ‘the CARIFORUM-EU EPA represents an important,
precedent-setting, evolution in preferential trade agreements (PTAs), where the Parties have
worked within the construct of a PTA to bring about a development dimension to their
international trading arrangements.’ The GATS+ character of liberalisation is evident in
CARIFORUM commitments on a wide range of service and investment activities, particularly
in key infrastructural sectors. GATS+ advances are also illustrated by improvements in
access to the EU market for commercial presence, in regard to the temporary entry of
natural persons and the treatment of cultural industries through a protocol on cultural
cooperation, even as the latter does not per se involve the granting of new market access
commitments.
A novel feature of the services component of the EPA is the creation of sector specific
frameworks, including for regulatory cooperation. The EPA contains specific provisions on
computer services, courier services, telecommunications services, financial services,
international maritime transport services and tourism services. Many of the sectoral
disciplines found in the EPA are similar to those found in the GATS. However, while the
WTO gives its members the option to voluntarily sign on to some or all of these texts (e.g.
the understanding on commitments in financial services, the reference paper on
pro competitive regulatory principles in basic telecommunications), these form an integral
and binding part of the CARIFORUM-EU EPA.
In the case of maritime transport services, for instance, the EPA has succeeded in
establishing rules for governing trade in the sector whereas multilateral discussions have to
date failed to produce any tangible results. In the area of telecom services, the EPA has
several legally-binding provisions which go beyond the voluntary provisions in the GATS
reference paper. For instance, the EPA establishes a framework governing how and when
authorisation to provide telecommunications services is to be granted, which is a GATS+
concept. It sets out rules on interconnection far more clearly and spells out more elaborate
rules on the issue of universal service obligations than done in the GATS. Unlike the GATS
Reference paper, it also tackles the issue of confidentiality of telecommunications and
related traffic data. Similarly, given the crucial importance of the telecommunications sector
to Caribbean economies, the text on tourism services features distinct development
cooperation provisions in contrast to other sectors where this is addressed more
generally. 130 In the case of e-commerce, the EPA parties agree to maintain dialogue on
regulatory issues such as the recognition of certificates of electronic signatures and the
facilitation of cross-border certification services, the liability of service providers with respect
to the transmission or storage of information, the treatment of unsolicited electronic
commercial communications and the protection of consumers in the ambit of electronic
commerce. In all these respects, the EPA marks precedent setting advances over the
GATS. On financial services, the EPA features provisions not found in the Annex on financial
services including those on transparency, new financial services and data processing.
129
Annex 1 provides a synopsis of the main provisions on services and investment in the
CARIFORUM-EU EPA.
130
The EPA has an explicit commitment on the part of the EC to help in the advancement of the
tourism sector in the CARIFORUM states. It also sets out a non exhaustive list of specific areas in
which the Parties agree to co operate that include capacity building for environmental management,
the development of internet based marketing strategies for small and medium sized tourism
enterprises, and the upgrading of national accounts systems to facilitate the introduction of tourism
satellite accounts at the regional and local level.
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