Ethiopia and EPA Negotiation 2008 - FES Ethiopia

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B. Stringent Administrative requirements In addition to the rules of origin, the other limitation that constrained the effectiveness of the EBA scheme is the administrative requirements. When EBA entered into force, ACP countries were expected to react to the new incentives provided by increased market access. However, the majority of ACP countries continued to export under the now-expired ACP trade preferences. The under utilization is because of a small Cotonou /EBA preferential margin as well as an entrenched use of ACP administrative forms. Different formalities apply to the benefit of trade preferences under the CPA and EBA initiatives. In fact, in order to benefit from now expired CPA trade preferences, the certificate of origin "Form EUR I" is required as under the previous Lomé Conventions. Conversely, as the EBA is an amendment to the EU GSP scheme, in order to benefit from the EBA, the GSP certificate of origin "Form A" has to be used. The European Union issued a notice to economic operators in LDCs exporting products to the EU as soon as the trade measures provided for in Annex V to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement expired on January 1, 2008. 39 The EC said that all products exported from LDCs and arriving in the European Union after 31 December 2007 and wishing from tariff preferences would need to be accompanied by the relevant proof of origin, which includes a certificate of origin. The relevant rule in case of Ethiopia is the GSP certificate of origin, which includes the combined declaration and certificate “Form A”. The communication from EC also made it clear that origin of certificate used under the trade regime set out in Annex V of the Cotonou Agreement (“EUR1” certificates) will no longer be valid after 31 December 2007.The EU warned that if the right certificate of origin is not immediately available for any reason or shipments are already in transit, an appropriate guarantee covering any MFN duties payable may be lodged by importers with the EU customs authorities to allow the products concerned to enter EU markets. The changing administrative requirement might affect the performance of African LDCs export under the EBA scheme. There are reports of some temporary disruption to exports in Zambia while exporters adjusted to the 39 European Commission, DG for Trade, Notice to Economic Operators in [ LDCs] Exporting Products to the EU, 21.12.2007 (Brussels) 34 | P a g e
different documentation requirements required under EBA. 40 In Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Customs Authority has started granting certificate “Form A” to exporters to the European Union. So far no problem has been reported to the Authority regarding payment of MFN tariff associated with non-compliance with formality requirement. C. Concluding Note If the Ethiopian government decided not sign either the Interim or Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and use the EBA scheme (what I call the EBA strategy), the government should at the same time turn its attention to other markets for exports such as China and India. There is already a positive external environment. Over the past years, trade between Africa and Asia has grown tremendously while trade with Europe has decreased. The fear that the EU is losing its foothold on the African continent is incidentally one of the principal objectives of the EPA agenda. The India’s commercial ties with Africa have grown as the India-Africa trade volume has increased by 285 percent to 25 billion USD in the last four years. This has raised Africa’s share in India global trade from 5.8 percent in 2002/03 to 8 percent in 2006-7, according to the survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. 41 On April 9, 2008, the India-Africa Forum Summit adopted the Delhi Declaration and the Africa-India Framework for Cooperation which among other things unilaterally opens Indian market for goods from Africa through a duty free preference schemes for the 50 Least Developed Countries including Ethiopia. Although closer examination of the scheme is necessary, the preference regime allow the duty free import of cotton, cocoa, aluminum ores, cooper ores, cashew nuts, cane sugar, readymade garments, fish filets, etc. Similarly, African –Chinese trade has increased five-fold over the past five years to reach over 50 billion USD last year. In November 2006, China hosted a Sino- Africa summit and extended a preferential market access to imports coming from most African countries. In China’s relationship with Africa, there is no carping about human rights and bad government. It is straight commercial and investment dealings without paternalism, lectures and strings attached. For 40 Christopher Stevens et al, “The New EPAs: Comparative Analysis of their Content and the Challenges for 2008”, ODI and ECDPM 31 March 2008, p.68 41 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/08/content_7939210.htm 35 | P a g e
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Page 19 and 20: have the audacity to claim otherwis
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Page 25 and 26: instruments remain to be negotiated
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Page 31 and 32: etween the EU and Ethiopia as these
Page 33: cost. It should also be noted that
Page 37 and 38: negotiation on the Full EPA with EC
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Page 41 and 42: and eastern African countries. Harm
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Page 55 and 56: Scope of Application Article 6 Clas
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