This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the trade regimes for Africa that on 1 January 2008 replaced the trade preferences under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA), the negotiations that remain to be completed and the challenges facing Africa in implementation, some of which require support from Europe . The first part of the paper gives an overview of the initialled agreements, comparing both the texts of the agreements and the liberalization schedules that give details on the com more...

Agritrade, CTA; Accès au marché : aspects tarifaires et non tarifaires:
Le règlement de l’UE portant sur la lutte contre la pêche INN : un système de certification des captures prévu pour 2010. La crise économique européenne favorise la consommation de poisson bon marché. Quel prix les consommateurs seront-ils susceptibles de payer pour un thon écolabellisé ? Les écolabels rejetés par les représentants de la communauté internationale de la pêche artisanale. Etat des lieux des more...

Market access, tariff and non-tariff aspects:
The EU is to introduce a new catch-certification scheme. Cheap fish will be favoured by the economic crisis. Eco-labels are being spurned. The Pacific EPA will include global sourcing for fish and fish products. The promise of aquaculture for future supplies has been analysed;

EU-ACP fisheries relations; FPAs:
The EU has introduced a new system regulating EU vessels fishing outside EU waters. The LDRAC has launched a website. The EC is proposin more...

Lettre d'information sur les Négociations d’APE, novembre 2008

November issue of Agritrade on EPA negotiations

The ACP-EU Trade non-partisan website provides access to publicly available information, from a variety of sources, in English and in French, on ACP-EU trade related matters. In particular:

* An extended and regularly updated searchable on-line library provides instant access to the most recent studies, reports, official communications, etc. on trade (-related) issues relevant for EPAs.
* A news section offers regular updates on the status of the EPA negotiations and related matters. more...

'The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) was established in Geneva in September 1996 to contribute to a better understanding of development and environment concerns in the context of international trade.

As an independent non-profit and non-governmental organisation, ICTSD engages a broad range of actors in ongoing dialogue about trade and sustainable development. With a wide network of governmental, non-governmental and inter-governmental partners, ICTSD plays more...

The purpose of this article is to provide an update of the main elements and issues at stake for the 6 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) groupings negotiating an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). The article offers an overview of the economic and regional integration dynamics influencing the structure, pace, and outcome of the EPA negotiation process for each region.
Authors: Melissa Julian, Nicolas Mombrial, Corinna Braun-Munzinger, ECDPM. Publisher: ICTSD

'With the expanding globalization of trade, grades and standards (G&S) help to set the rules of the game and their implications for developing countries are becoming increasingly relevant. While they are clearly important to trade, their formation and utilization is also undergoing a shift from being neutral market lubricants to also being tools of product differentiation. This implies a fundamental shift in the role of G&S from just reducing transaction costs of commodity market participants, t more...

'The outlines of a potential agreement, emerging after seven years of negotiations, imply that Doha offers three key benefits: reduced uncertainty of market access in goods and services; improved market access in agriculture and manufacturing; and the mobilization of resources to deal with the trade problems of least developed countries. WTO Members have offered to make large reductions in legally bound levels of protection in goods and services. The reductions in currently applied levels of pro more...