Rules of origin clause widens scope of SA’s duty-free access to EU

A new rules of origin clause

– part of South Africa’s

Economic Partnership

Agreement

(EPA)

with the

European

Union

(EU) –

could

potentially

broaden

the

country’s

duty-free

access on

a number

of valueadded

products

produced

locally.

The Southern

African Development

Community (SADC) EPA

Group – which includes

members of the Department

of Trade and Industry (dti) –

and the EU are in the process

of thrashing out details of the

implementation of the EPA.

“This includes the EPA

rules of origin which allow

for extended

cumulation that

can facilitate

intra-regional

trade and

industrialisation

across the

Southern

and Eastern

Africa region

in particular,”

said Niki

Kruger, chief

director of trade

negotiations at

the dti.

She explained

that this would

enable the SADC

EPA countries to

cumulate with other African,

Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)

countries that have duty-free

access into the EU.

“This means that if for

example Mauritius has duty

free access into the EU for

peaches, South Africa will be

able to import peaches from

Mauritius for canning and

export the canned peaches to

the EU duty-free under the

EPA agreement,” Kruger told

FTW.

She believes this provides

the opportunity to establish

regional value chains in

Africa that will enhance

competitiveness and

production capacity.

“However, to be able to

cumulate with other ACP

countries in this way, we will

need to put administrative

arrangements in place with

these countries,” she pointed

out, noting that discussions

with the EU were ongoing

around this.

“We are set to meet soon

regarding this and will

discuss the progress in

implementing the new rules

of origin and if countries are

experiencing challenges on

how to address it,” Kruger

said.

She pointed out that

South Africa’s core interest,

since the beginning of the

EPA process,

had been to

harmonise the

trading regime

between the

South African

Customs

Union (Sacu)

and the EU; to

secure further

market access

in agriculture

(beyond

the TDCA

provisions);

and to address

some of the

shortfalls in

the preceding

Trade,

Development

and Cooperation

Agreement (TDCA) which

was replaced by the EPA in

October last year.

Kruger said that SADC

EPA countries had to ratify

the EPA agreement before

it entered into force, with

Sacu countries – Botswana,

Lesotho,

Namibia,

South Africa

and Swaziland

– having

already

submitted

their

Instruments of

Ratification.

Mozambique

was in the

process of

ratifying the

agreement

and Angola

was still

considering

its option to

join the EPA

agreement in future.

“The EU can provisionally

apply the agreement while it

is being ratified by all the EU

countries,” she added.

INSERT

South Africa will

be able to import

peaches from

Mauritius for canning

and export the

canned peaches

to the EU dutyfree

under the EPA

agreement.

– Niki Kruger