Trade agreements

Effects of Rules of Origin on the European Union - Africa Economic Partnership Agreements : summary of issues

Upphovsperson:	Rios-Herran, Roberto
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	European Union, International negotiations, Economic agreements, Trade agreements, international trade, Business and economics, Ekonomi

Rules of Origin (ROO) determine the economic nationality of an imported product. Where margins of trade preferences are higher, ROO tend to be very restrictive and even sometimes dilutes the benefits of such preferences. As the ACP-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations enter a critical phase, the devil of the agreement will be in the detail of the impending EPAs ROO. According to the original mandate, EPA is supposed to be concluded by December 2007 and should be development friendly. Yet, the recent EC ROO offer to the ACP countries (Commission Staff Working Document Concerning the Definition of “Originating Products and Methods of Administrative Cooperation”) are seen by commentators as completely undermining the development dimension of EPA. Bearing in mind the current EPA negotiations, Roberto Rios explains how ROO impact the pattern of trade between countries and how they can be development friendly.

The proliferation of anti-dumping and poor governance in emerging economies: case studies of China and South Africa

Upphovsperson:	Gao, Xuan
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2009
Ämnesord:	Foreign trade, Trade policy, dumping, unfair competition, trade barriers, Trade agreements, Governance, Trade liberalization, China, South Africa, Business and economics, Ekonomi

Through examination of the alleged rationale of the anti-dumping (AD) instrument, this paper argues that it has little to do with fairness or with level playing fields. AD trade protection enjoys broad political support merely because its convoluted technical complexities prevent all but a few insiders and experts from understanding the reality that underlies the rhetoric, thus enabling inefficient but well-organised domestic producers to safely utilise the instrument to protect themselves from foreign competition, at times in collusion with foreign exporters and with the national AD authorities as a broker. While the best option for AD reform, i.e., complete removal, is not practically available, this paper proposes improving AD’s procedural institutions by enhancing the quality of public governance in the formulation of AD decisions by national authorities. It further examines the AD practices and laws of China and South Africa, arguing that poor governance in emerging economies contributes to their prolific use of AD, usually disproportionate to their small share of world imports. These economies already maintain higher tariff barriers than industrial countries, so that without effective steps to ensure better governance to restrain the arbitrary and proliferating use of AD, they may lose out significantly on the gains from the trade liberalisation for which they have been striving for decades. CONTENTS Foreword 1. Introduction 2. Anti-dumping: Rhetoric vs. Reality 2.1 The Rehtoric of AD: To Ensure Level Playing Fields by Offsetting Unfair Competition 2.1.1 The Economic Rationale of Free Trade and Competition 2.1.2 AD: A Competition-Distorting and Protectionist Instrument 2.2 AD: Misundertanding, Ignorance and Indifference 2.2.1 Collaboration between Special Interest Groups and Decision Makers 3. Harnessing Anti-Dumping: A Good Governance Approach 3.1 Good Governance in AD Decision Making 3.2 The Prolific Use of AD by Emerging Economies and the Low Quality of Governance 3.2.1 AD Desicion Making in China 3.2.2 AD Decision Formulation in South Africa 4. Conclusions References    

Examining the South Africa–China agricultural trading relationship

Upphovspersoner:	Sandrey, Ron | Edinger, Hannah
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2009
Ämnesord:	Foreign trade, Economic relations, agricultural trade, Trade agreements, export earnings, Access to markets, comparative analysis, China, South Africa, Business and economics, Ekonomi

In recent years, Africa has emerged as a dominant region in China’s foreign policy. As an emerging center of economic growth in the world economy, China is striving towards establishing a stronger footprint in Africa than ever before. The need to understand this rapprochement has been exacerbated by the current financial crisis.With focus on agricultural trade, this book uses empirical data spanning up to year end 2007 to explain the potential benefits of China growing trade in Africa on South Africa’s economy. The studies cover both China and South Africa’s positions as importer and exporter of agricultural products in each other’s markets. In doing so, they have carefully analyzed data from Chinese and South African sources. In order to give a fresh perspective to the analyses, a section of the work has been devoted to the nature of non-tariff barriers that face South Africa’s exporters into the Chinese market.

The development dimension or disillusion : The EU's development policy goals and the Economic Partnership Agreements

Upphovsperson:	Stocchetti, Marikki
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	Partnership, International negotiations, Economic agreements, Trade agreements, international trade, Economic and social development, Sustainable development, Business and economics, Ekonomi

The EU and the ACP countries aim to conclude the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) by the end of December 2007. All parties agree that these trading arrangements are meant to be first and foremost “development instruments”. However, their positions differ greatly on how the EPAs will impact on theultimate goal of poverty reduction. In this policy note Marikki Stocchetti addresses the key issues of this disagreement.

EPAs and the post-Lisbon Implementation Status

Upphovspersoner:	Khumalo, Nkululeko | Mulleta, Fantu
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2009
Ämnesord:	international trade, International negotiations, Economic agreements, Trade agreements, Free trade areas, Partnership, Africa, European Union, ACP, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) between African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) were launched in 2000. The talks are carried out in terms of the Cotonou Agreement, which seeks to replace the non-reciprocal export preferences ACP countries have had with the European Community (EC) with reciprocal free trade arrangements. These negotiations have been carried out on a regional basis since January 2008 in order to align the parties’ trade regime with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Accordingly, a number of ACP countries initialled Interim Economic Partnership Agreement texts at the end of 2007. The IEPAs are a stopgap measure meant to prevent trade disruptions while negotiations on fully fledged EPAs continue. The second stage of negotiations, which will include services, investment, competition and government procurement, is expected to lead to the conclusion of fully fledged EPAs. This policy note seeks to provide a brief overview of the implementation status of the EPAs in selected African regions. The paper also looks at the impact of the Interim Economic Partnership Agreements (IEPAs) on the countries that initialled them and provides recommendations on how to ensure that the eventual full EPA agreements promote the interests of African countries.

Situating the EPA negotiations : Issues and unresolved debates in Africa-EU trade relations

Upphovsperson:	Goodison, Paul
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2009
Ämnesord:	international trade, International negotiations, Economic agreements, Trade agreements, Common markets, Structural adjustment, Sustainable development, Poverty alleviation, Africa, European Union, Business and economics, Ekonomi

For a long time it has been necessary to move beyond sterile debates for or against Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The real issue is: what kind of EPAs will support African governments in their efforts to promote the structural transformation of their economies, so that they can move beyond the production of simple and unprocessed products to the production of a range of higher value products, for national, regional and international markets, and in the process help them tackle poverty and employment issues. This paper seeks to situate the ongoing EPA negotiations and debate around contentious issues in the context of the wider European Union (EU) trade policy and African aspirations for sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Trade, development, cooperation : what future for Africa?

Upphovsperson:	Melber, Henning
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2005
Ämnesord:	Development aid, International cooperation, Foreign trade, Trade liberalization, Trade agreements, Globalization, Eonomic and social development, European Union, Africa, Business and economics, Ekonomi

Bi- and multilateral trade relations between external actors and individual African states or regional blocs are becoming ever more decisive. The trade policies of both the USA and the EU are anything but helpful. This is true of the USAs African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Africa and more recently the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiated in the Post-Cotonou era of European relations with the South. All these initiatives have a potentially detrimental impact on regional integration. The latter remains however a priority in the developmental policy and strategy documents as formulated both by African agencies as well as the partners in development cooperation in the OECD countries. Hence the question of coherence between trade as aid and other areas of development strategy and cooperation remains to be answered. The three analyses presented in this publication are centred on related issues in the ongoing process of globalisation under the WTO regime, and their likely effect on African countries. Each chapter critically examines recent trends in the discourse on trade reform and development. The contributions to this volume offer discussion and food for thought for scholars, policy makers and NGO activists alike on closely related topical issues in European-African trade relations and development cooperation.