Ethiopia and EPA Negotiation 2008 - FES Ethiopia

cost. It should also be noted that the ACP-EU development assistance
relationship is regulated under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement and
channeled through EDF, and EPAs only replace the trade chapter, not the
whole Cotonou Agreement. The availability of funds under EDF will not be
affected because a country doesn’t sign an Interim EPA. Moreover, the
European Union has never threatened to make access to more and better aid
resources conditional upon signing a trade agreement to date.
6.2.3 Other Limitations of the EBA Regime
A. Lack of Security of Access
The Everything But Arms is a unilateral measure taken by the European Union. As
such it can be withdrawn any time. This unilateral nature might have affected
the expected Foreign Direct Investment flows deriving from the more generous
market access opportunities.
Moreover, the safeguard clause under the EBA (and GSP) is potentially more
easily triggered than the one under the ACP agreements. The EBA clause only
requires that an imported product originating from one of the GSP beneficiaries”
cause(s) or threaten(s) to cause serious difficulties to a Community producer of
like or directly competing products”. The corresponding regulation in the
Cotonou Agreement calls for imports” in such increased quantities and under
such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to its domestic
producers of like or directly competitive products”. The provision of the Cotonou
Agreement further provides for “serious disturbances in any sector of the
economy or difficulties which could bring about serious deterioration in the
economic situation of the region” as alternative scenarios equally justifying the
application of safeguard measures. Unlike the GSP safeguard scheme, the
Cotonou rules do not expressly define the factors to be taken into account
when examining “serious difficulties”. Also unlike the GSP rules, the Cotonou
Agreement does not provide for temporary withdrawal of the preferential
arrangements in the case of” criminal” activities or the infringement of certain
rules. Similarly the EBA regime can be suspended if the customs declarations of
exporters are found to be incorrect. This inflexible nature doesn’t make it friendly
to economic development in LDCs.
33 | P a g e