Could red tape derail the new EU partnership agreement?

While the European Union
(EU) signed an economic
partnership agreement
(EPA) on June 10 with
the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) EPA group, there
is some concern that the
sluggish bureaucratic
attitude of the African
states’ political regimes
could throw a serious
spanner in the works.
The SADC EPA group
consists of Botswana,
Lesotho, Mozambique,
Namibia, SA and
Swaziland – with Angola
having an option to join
the agreement in future.
The EU is the group’s
largest trading partner,
with SA accounting for the
largest part of EU exports
and imports to and from
the region.
And the EPA certainly
gave the impression of
being a beneficial deal for
the African group. It gives
asymmetric access to the
partners in the SADC EPA
group, allowing them to
guard against sensitive
products being blitzed by
full liberalisation, and to
deploy safeguards when
imports are growing too
quickly. There is also a
detailed development
chapter identifying
trade-related areas
that can benefit
from funding,
and a chapter on
sustainable development.
SA will benefit from new
market access additional
to the Trade, Development
and Cooperation
Agreement (TDCA) that
currently governs the
trade relations between
it and the EU. This new
access includes better
trading terms, mainly in
agriculture (including wine
exports) and fisheries.
For the other five states,
the EPA guarantees access
to the EU market without
any duties or quotas.
It also includes a bilateral
protocol between the EU
and SA, granting protection
to geographical indications
and on trade in wines
and spirits. So, while the
EU will protect names
such as Rooibos and
numerous wine names like
Stellenbosch and Paarl,
SA will, in return, protect
more than 250 EU names
spread over the categories
food, wines and spirits.
But there is a potential
stumbling block facing the
actual implementation of
this EPA scheme, according
to Norbert Liebich of
Transworld Cargo in
Windhoek, Namibia.
He stressed to FTW that,
although the EPA had been
signed, it would not come
into force until all six of the
SADC member states had
ratified the agreement by
parliament.
It should also be
mentioned that the
EU has set a deadline
of October 1 for such
ratification.
“Since this is now purely
a political process,” Liebich
added, “the question is,
will our politicians drive
this process in such a short
time?”
Given the usual snail’s
pace of government
actions, even those that are
supposedly fast-tracked, he
felt that this October date
might very well be missed.
“I have my doubts, for
example, whether the
Department of Trade
and Industry (dti) in SA
will have the political
will to adhere to such
a tight deadline.”