Abstract
Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have become a very prominent feature of the multilateral trading system. These arrangements have operated as legally permitted exceptions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) since it was established in 1947. The GATT rules, which have been subsumed under the WTO rules, recognise that tariffs and other barriers to trade can be reduced on a preferential basis by countries under regional arrangements. This is based on the cardinal principle of Article XXIV of GATT, which permits a departure from the Most Favoured Nations (MFN) obligation of non-discrimination within free trade areas, customs unions or interim arrangements that lead to the formation of free trade areas or customs unions. Mega-Regional trade and investment agreements merit attention because of their sheer size and their potential implication for trade and investments. These agreements are broad economic agreements among groups of countries that together have economic weight in negotiations and also at the world stage.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the ACP Secretariat. The fact of the author’s employment with the ACP Secretariat does not imply any endorsement of his views by the Secretariat.
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Notes
- 1.
December 1996, WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore on the agenda were: Trade and Investment, Trade and Competition policy, transparency in government procurement, and trade facilitation.
- 2.
Ramdoo I (2014) New Mega-Trade Deals: What Implications for Africa? Briefing Note. 73, European Centre for Development Policy Management.
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- 4.
Pacific Island Forum Countries: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
- 5.
SADC: Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
- 6.
EAC: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzanian.
- 7.
COMESA: Burundi, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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AFTINET, PACER Plus: Development of Free Trade in the Pacific Island Forum. See www.aftinet.org.au (last accessed 17 September 2015).
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Agreement Establishing A Tripartite Free Trade Area Among The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, The East African Community and the Southern African Development Community, http://www.eac.int/legal/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=205&Itemid=154 (last accessed 24 September 2015).
- 11.
Agreement Establishing A Tripartite Free Trade Area Among The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, The East African Community and the Southern African Development Community, http://www.eac.int/legal/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=205&Itemid=154 (last accessed 24 September 2015).
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Andriamananjara S, Understanding the Importance of the Tripartite Free Trade Area. Brookings, Africa Focus, 17 June 2015.
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It worth saying that prior to the Enabling Clause of 1979, developing countries have justified the formation of regional trade agreements among them on the basis of Part IV of GATT. In Part IV of GATT, the developing countries members including the ACP Group supported the provision of Article XXXVII:4 which provides for less-developed contracting parties “to take appropriate action in the implementation of PART IV for the benefit of trade of other less-developed contracting parties, in so far as such action is consistent with their individual present and future development, financial and trade needs taking into account past development as well as the trade interests of the less-developed contracting parties as whole”. This Article gave developing countries the legal grounds to form preferential trade agreements among themselves, such as the Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) outside the GATT framework. However, under the rules of the Decision of 28th November 1978 (L4903) (Enabling Clause) this subject to notification to the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD), The Council on Trade in Goods and the Council on Trade in Services.
- 14.
Erasmus and Hartzenberg (2013), p. 347.
- 15.
African Union (2012) Action Plan for Boosting, Intra-African Trade, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/Action%20Plan%20for%20boosting%20intra-African%20trade%20F-English.pdf (last accessed 24 September 2015).
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Manrique Gil M, Lerch M and Bierbrauer E (2015) The TTIP’s potential impact on developing countries: A review of existing literature and selected issues. Directorate – General for External Polices, Policy Department, European Parliament, DGEXPO/B/PolDep/Note/2015_84.
- 18.
Richter (2014), p. 50.
- 19.
Agreement Establishing A Tripartite Free Trade Area Among The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, The East African Community and the Southern African Development Community, http://www.eac.int/legal/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=205&Itemid=154 (last accessed 24 September 2015).
- 20.
Manrique Gil M, Lerch M and Bierbrauer E (2015) The TTIP’s potential impact on developing countries: A review of existing literature and selected issues. Directorate – General for External Polices, Policy Department, European Parliament, DG EXPO/B/PolDep/Note/2015_84.
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Council Regulation (EC) No. 1528/2007 applying to the arrangements for product originating in certain States which are part of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) Group of States provided for in agreements establishing, or leading to the establishment of, Economic Partnership Agreements.
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The Tripartite Free Trade Area Project Integration in Southern and Eastern Africa. Briefing, March 2015, European Parliamentary Research Services.
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References
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Richter S (2014) Reaching a consensus? Afr Investor 12(2):48–50
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Opoku Awuku, E. (2016). Developing and Least-Developed Countries and Mega-Regional Trade and Investment Agreements. In: Bungenberg, M., Herrmann, C., Krajewski, M., Terhechte, J. (eds) European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2016. European Yearbook of International Economic Law, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29215-1_28
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