DEVELOPMENT AND LDCs

SummaryThe paper provides an analysis of different rules of origin that currently apply between the EU and the ACP countries in sectors like textile and clothing, and fisheries.

With the end of the Cotonou agreement and its replacement by the still incomplete EPAs, the rules of origin provisions applicable to exports from different ACP countries became ever more complex, but also less restrictive in some cases. For the ACP countries that were able to initial an Interim EPA, market access to the EU is provided for by an EU Council Regulation that guarantees the continuation of non-reciprocal preferences until the EPAs are implemented; this includes some specific rules of origin as well. For ACP countries that did not sign an Interim EPA, preferential market access to the EU falls within the provisions of the EU’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) or the Everything but Arm’s Initiative (EAI), with their corresponding, different rules of origin.

Interestingly, as noted in the paper, in the treatment of textiles and clothing, as well as fish, the new rules of origin are less restrictive than was the case under the Cotonou Agreement. In the area of textile and clothing, a sector of great importance to the ACP countries, the new rules of origin require only a single transformation (instead of a two-stage transformation as before) in order for exported goods to qualify for preferential market access, which fulfils a long-standing request by ACP exporters. Also, for fish and fish products, a simplification of ownership and crew requirements linked to the vessel used to harvest fish means that some additional flexibility has been extended to ACP exporters. A far more fundamental change to the rules has been agreed with the Pacific Group, where countries that initialled an Interim EPA can now source fish from other regions and still qualify for preferential market access provided that the fish are landed and processed locally. This was also long sought by many ACP countries.