ISDS Case Map
EPAs
Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and ACP countries (under the Cotonou Agreement)
The combination of the time-factor, the TRIPS-plus implications of many of the elements suggested by the EC, the challenges that would face non-WTO Pacific countries to even adhere to TRIPS and the general level of development in these countries, it is strongly recommended that Pacific countries do not agree to the inclusion of an IP section in the EC-Pacific EPA.
As September draws to a close, the likelihood diminishes that an economic partnership agreement (EPA) is achievable this year between the European Union and the Caribbean.
Mr. Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress, said the leadership of organised labour had discussed the main issues of the EPA negotiations and concluded that the current efforts to negotiate a free and fair trade agreement between the world's single most powerful economic bloc and weaker economies was impossible.
Demonstrators in Brussels and Nairobi demanded on Thursday a halt to trade and investment negotiations between the European Union and former colonies, saying the proposed deal would harm poor countries.
Senior World Bank staff have asked the European Union to consider extending the end-of-year deadline it has set for a series of free trade agreements with Africa.
Africa is in a catch-22 situation. The Economic Partnership Agreements will ensure continued tariff-free exports to Europe, but may kill domestic production.
For the last few years, the Ghanaian market has been flooded with cheap imported chicken from the European Union and the United States. These are usually fatty chicken parts that come in packages without labels. Demand for local poultry has collapsed, threatening the livelihoods of over 1,000 poultry farmers in both small and large-scale poultry farming in Ghana. The current situation will be compounded when the EPAs take effect in 2008 with the removal of tariffs across board.
A brief critique of the EU's proposal on Competition Policy in the EPAs.
