PURPOSE: to conclude the Economic Partnership
Agreement between the East African Community Partner States, of the
one part, and the European Union and its Member States, of the
other part.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the
act only if Parliament has given its consent to the
act.
BACKGROUND: on 12 June 2002, the Council authorised
the Commission to open negotiations for Economic Partnership
Agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of
States.
The negotiations were completed at the level of the
Chief Negotiators in Brussels on 14 October 2014. The Agreement was
initialled on 16 October 2014 in Brussels.
The attached proposal for a Council Decision
constitutes the legal instrument for the conclusion of the Economic
Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the East African Community
(EAC) Partner States, of the one part, and the European Union and
its Member States, of the other part (EAC EPA). The EAC Partner
States are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and
Uganda.
It should be noted that:
- Kenya currently benefits from the scheme contained in
the Market Access Regulation (MAR);
- the other countries of the region currently benefit
from the 'Everything But Arms' initiative, since they are
classified among the Least Developed Countries
(LDCs).
The Agreement will provide a uniform access regime for
the EAC Partner States as soon as it enters into force.
CONTENT: under this proposal, the Council is called
upon to adopt a Decision aiming to approve, on behalf of the
European Union and its Member States, an Economic Partnership
Agreement between the East African Community Partner
States.
Scope and objective of the Agreement: the EAC EPA contains provisions on:
- trade in goods;
- customs and trade facilitation;
- technical barriers to trade;
- sanitary and phytosanitary measures;
- agriculture;
- fisheries.
The provisions concerning cooperation for the
implementation of the development dimension lay down the
priority areas of action for the implementation of the EAC EPA,
which are set out in the Regional Indicative Programme for
2014-2020.
The EAC EPA contains commitments relating to regional
integration, which will support the implementation of the EAC
custom union.
The EAC EPA also intends to continue the negotiations
at regional level on:
- services;
- competition policy;
- investment and private sector development;
- trade, environment and sustainable
development;
- intellectual property rights;
- transparency in public procurement.
Trade provisions: the
EAC EPA is a development-oriented trade
agreement.
It offers asymmetric market access to the EAC
Partner States, which allows them to shield sensitive sectors from
liberalisation.
It provides a large number of safeguards and a clause
for infant industry protection, as well as provisions on the
rules of origin that facilitate exports.
It eliminates the use of export subsidies in trade
between the Parties. These provisions contibute to the objective of
Policy Coherence for Development.
Institutional provisions: the institutional provisions of the EAC EPA foresee
the establishment of an EPA Council, responsible for
supervising the implementation of the EPA.
- The EPA Council shall be composed of the
representatives of the Parties at ministerial level and will be
assisted by a Committee of Senior Officials.
- A Consultative Committee will assist the Committee of
Senior Officials with a view to promoting dialogue and co-operation
between representatives of civil society, the private sector and
social and economic partners.
Lastly, the EAC EPA shall be reviewed after every five
years from the date of its entry into force.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: four out of five EAC Partner
States are LDCs benefitting from the 'Everything But Arms'
initiative which offers them duty-free quota-free market access
into the EU. Kenya benefits from the Market Access regulation which
also offers duty-free quota-free market access into the EU.
Therefore, there will be no budgetary implications given
that the Agreement will continue their market access into the EU on
the same terms.