Interim Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and Eastern and Southern Africa States

SUMMARY OF:

Interim Agreement establishing a framework for an Economic Partnership Agreement between the Eastern and Southern Africa States, on the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, on the other

Decision 2012/196/EC on the signing and provisional application of the Interim Agreement establishing a framework for an Economic Partnership Agreement between the Eastern and Southern Africa States, on the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, on the other

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE AGREEMENT AND THE DECISION?

The agreement aims to encourage development by establishing free trade relations between the European Union (EU) and the countries concerned.
The decision approves the signing and provisional application of the agreement on behalf of the EU.

KEY POINTS

The Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) states consist of:

union of Comoros
Madagascar
Mauritius
Seychelles
Zambia
Zimbabwe.

Objectives

The agreement has a number of objectives including:

reducing and eventually eradicating poverty;
encouraging regional integration, economic cooperation and good governance in the ESA region;
promoting the gradual integration of the ESA region into the world economy;
improving the ESA region’s capacity in trade policy and trade-related issues.

Main features

The main features of the agreement are:

full duty-free and quota-free market access to the EU for the ESA countries;
reduced duties on EU exports to the ESA countries, according to an agreed schedule;
rules on fisheries and trade defence;
a dispute settlement mechanism.

The agreement contains a chapter detailing areas for future negotiation aimed at deepening the interim agreement, including:

customs and trade facilitation
intellectual property rights
the environment and sustainable development
agriculture.

These negotiations were launched in October 2009.

DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE

The agreement has not yet entered into force.
Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe signed the agreement in 2009 and have provisionally applied it since 14 May 2012.
Union of Comoros signed the agreement in July 2017 and subsequently notified its ratification on 7 February 2019, when this agreement started to be provisionally applied for union of Comoros.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

Eastern and Southern Africa (European Commission).

MAIN DOCUMENTS

Successive amendments to the Interim Agreement have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

Council Decision 2012/196/EC of 13 July 2009 on the signing and provisional application of the Interim Agreement establishing a framework for an Economic Partnership Agreement between the Eastern and Southern Africa States, on the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, on the other part (OJ L 111, 24.4.2012, p. 1).