Central African calls for EPA impact study
Negotiations continue on Cameroon’s request to the EC to delay the entry into force of their signed interim EPA with the EU until the broader regional agreement is signed and rules of origin defined.
However, if the delay is granted, Cameroon may have to revert to the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences trade regime and, as a result, lose trade preferences on some of the country’s exports to the EU. The Communauté Economique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale (CEMAC) Council of Ministers meeting on 11 December focused on the region’s economic integration and the effects of the financial crisis on CEMAC economies.
With regard to EPAs, Ministers called for an impact study on the implementation of the Cameroon EU interim EPA on CEMAC economies to be undertaken as soon as possible. The regional committee in charge of EPAs met in the margins of the Council meeting to prepare for a ministerial level regional EPA meeting to be held in February. National Authorising Officers for the European Development Fund will also attend the February meeting, which will discuss outstanding EPA issues and determine the way forward in negotiations with the EC.
The committee reiterated the outstanding issues (market access, services, fiscal impact of the EPA, non-execution clause, import taxes, development finance, and rules of origin) which need ministerial guidance and called for the EPA Regional Fund (FORAPE) to be validated at the February meeting. They also call for a ministerial committee to be established to follow the EPA negotiations. The CEMAC summit scheduled for 14 December was postponed again, and will now take place on 15 January in Bangui. The focus will be on regional integration and EPAs. The next round of Central Africa-EC technical level EPA negotiations is not likely to be held before mid-February. A new joint calendar of meetings will be agreed at the next meeting. No joint negotiating meetings have been held since February 2009.
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