The reported concessions made on SA's concerns for the Interim EPA

By JB Cronjé, a tralac Researcher

The SADC EPA group met with their negotiating partner, the EC, last week to solve the concerns South Africa has had for not initialing the Interim EPA. Media reports have it that the EC made concessions on all of South Africa’s concerns including on its MFN demand save for excluding it completely. Apparently, the remaining concern is the perceived negative impact the EPA’s will have on integration efforts in the region. It is difficult to see how this particular issue could ever be resolved through negotiations with the EC.

The SADC-EPA negotiations were launched in July 2004 but were suspended in 2005 with both parties agreeing that regional integration in Southern Africa could not be achieved without addressing the trade consequences of the EC-SA Trade Development and Cooperation Agreement on the other members of the Southern African Customs Union. Consequently on 7 March 2006 SADC tabled a proposal to the EC to formally associate South Africa in the SADC EPA. On 23 February 2007 the EC Council of Ministers approved the proposal to include South Africa into the configuration as an active negotiating party.

However, South Africa did not initial the Interim EPA on 13 November of that year but agreed to continue negotiations towards a full EPA. Subsequently South Africa together with Namibia and Angola issued a joint concerns paper in May 2008. It is these concerns that have remained on the table. Notably, Namibia apparently accepted the concessions made by the EC at the meeting last week and is set to sign the agreement.

This brings us to the following questions:

* How will South Africa respond to the concessions?

* How will the concessions be incorporated in the agreement; in particular if the SADC EPA Group excluding South Africa signs a deal with the EC?