Ethiopia and EPA Negotiation 2008 - FES Ethiopia

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6. The EPA Interim Agreement and a way forward for Ethiopia The Interim Agreement (IA) of the EPA has been initialled by all countries in the ESA region except for the countries of the Horn of Africa and Malawi. As discussed before, the EAC group has split from the ESA region and has signed its own EPA. The ESA group is therefore fragmented and does not represent a coherent geographical entity, the EAC have created a hole in the middle of the region between the Horn and the Southern states. This leaves Ethiopia facing a decision on whether to initial the IA or to stay out of the IA and focus on negotiating the EPA, which is due to be completed by the end of 2008. The alternatives available to Ethiopia will be considered and the consequences of each alternative contemplated. In the immediate period that Ethiopia does not sign or accede to the IA the EBA regime will be available for exports, but the long term viability of the EBA regime is doubtful. So what are the other options for Ethiopia? At present, Ethiopia has a number of options in relation to trade with the EU: These are acceding to the Interim EPA; waiting and signing the full EPA on an individual basis, as part of ESA, as an associate of the EAC or as part of a new Horn Initiative grouping; alternatively the choice of not signing - resulting in the utilisation of the EBA regime. In relation to the above choices the position of Ethiopia must be considered in the terms of what would be missed if there was no signing of the Interim EPA or the comprehensive EPA, and also to determine whether it might be beneficial to wait before committing to a particular regime. The trade option of concluding the full EPA must be considered, even if some of the provisions remain politically sensitive in the Ethiopian context. In this context it must be considered under which grouping the EPA could be signed, in this respect there are a number of options open to Ethiopia. This is especially true in respect to the fact that the make -up of the ESA group has been considerably altered with the withdrawal of the EAC configuration. This report will also consider the value of the EBA regime as a long term trading arrangement for Ethiopia. 26 | P a g e
6.1 Initialling/ acceding to Development Chapter of the Interim EPA The legal implication of signing the Interim EPA has not been clear. There are conflicting views of what the process of initialling the IA actually means. There is no article in the IA that explicitly states what the effect of signing the IA means. However, there are a number of articles that throw light on to the meaning of initialling the agreement. For example, Article 6.1 of the ESA IA states that the trade in goods section will be limited to those countries who make a market access offer. Article 6.4 states that a signatory state that wants to make a market access offer may do so subject to approval from the EPA committee. These two articles taken together infer that a country may initial the IA and not make a market access offer. This would give meaning to Article 4 (f), which states that the development cooperation aspects are open to LDCs that are not in a position to conclude a tariff offer with the EC. Therefore taking these three articles it can be determined that a state may sign the IA and not make a market access offer. It would be eligible for any cooperation under the development cooperation chapters, but none of the articles of chapter two (trade in goods) would be applicable to that state. Essentially initialling the IA will not offer any particular development aid to Ethiopia in the short term; this is because the development cooperation section will not have any real meaning in the year that the IA is supposed to be valid. Most of the extra development aid will be available after the signing of the full EPA, for example Aid for Trade is unlikely to come on line before 2010. Therefore whilst initialling the IA does not require any market access offer, it may not offer anything tangible in terms of development within the operation of the IA. The assumption that the IA will operate for just one year may also be challenged. Whilst Article 3.2 states that the full EPA will be completed by 31 December 2008, Article 62.9 States that application of the IA is until the full EPA enters into force. The application of the full EPA might be later than the end of 2008, in fact the precedent of the negotiations that have occurred so far in the EPA process suggest that the full EPA will not be completed by the end of 2008. This might be all the likely case given the absence of any extra pressure this time to conclude the negotiation before the expiry of the waiver. Therefore, the IA may run longer than the expected one year, it can be seen that Article 62.9 of the ESA Agreement is a caveat in case the negotiations are not completed. In 27 | P a g e
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Page 3 and 4: References ........................
Page 5 and 6: Unilateral preference programs not
Page 7 and 8: Cotonou Agreement. The Cotonou Agre
Page 9 and 10: egional trade arrangements envisage
Page 11 and 12: 4. Content of the Interim EPAs As o
Page 13 and 14: country inputs in such key areas as
Page 15 and 16: African LDCs signed the Interim EPA
Page 17 and 18: the policy space of developing coun
Page 19 and 20: have the audacity to claim otherwis
Page 21 and 22: sale for export between the parties
Page 23 and 24: goods involved in the fraud and imp
Page 25: instruments remain to be negotiated
Page 29 and 30: The EBA regime provides duty free a
Page 31 and 32: etween the EU and Ethiopia as these
Page 33 and 34: cost. It should also be noted that
Page 35 and 36: different documentation requirement
Page 37 and 38: negotiation on the Full EPA with EC
Page 39 and 40: The final outcome of the EAC-EC EPA
Page 41 and 42: and eastern African countries. Harm
Page 43 and 44: 7. Conclusion: Key Issues Ahead The
Page 45 and 46: importance of technical cooperation
Page 47 and 48: the framework rules on procurement
Page 49 and 50: addressed since most of the CARIFOR
Page 51 and 52: References 1. Agritrade, EPA Negoti
Page 53 and 54: 19. Roberta Piermartini, The Role o
Page 55 and 56: Scope of Application Article 6 Clas
Page 57 and 58: Relations between this Agreement an

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