CARIFORUM challenges conclusions of EU report on trade agreement
Flags of CARIFORUM countries
Flags of CARIFORUM countries

THE Council of Ministers of CARIFORUM, which includes the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic (DR), has expressed major concern with the findings of a European Commission report on the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
CARIFORUM is a grouping of nations within the broader African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries.

“As a region, we are particularly troubled that in spite of the detailed concerns raised by our senior officials, in writing, this document remains in the public sphere, including on the official site of our partner under this Agreement,” CARIFORUM representatives said in a statement released to the media on Friday.

The report in question is titled, “Ex-post Evaluation of the EPA between the EU and its Member States, and the CARIFORUM Member states”. The EPA opens the trade relationship between the CARIFORUM and the European Union.

CARIFORUM is, however, concerned that the report uses an analysis which “was not equally robust for both Parties, resulting in glaring weaknesses in the evaluation itself”.

The CARIFORUM-endorsed statement said the evaluation and the Report appear to have approached the implementation efforts of the EU Party, assuming they were compliant. “In addition to being patently imbalanced,” the grouping said, “the number of inaccuracies in the Report, at the expense of CARIFORUM, is unacceptable.”

“The evaluation shows scant regard for CARIFORUM’s concerns, including those regarding procedural and regulatory barriers to the EU market, such as the EU visa requirements, which continue to impact effective Mode 4 access to the EU market, especially for cultural and professional services,” they charge in their statement.

The trading bloc believes that without specific evidence to support points being made, CARIFORUM is deemed as non-compliant, even where the points raised were not applicable to all CARIFORUM states.

Acknowledging that the evaluation which fed the report was conducted by independent consultants for the European Commission, the CARIFORUM ministers council expressed concern at one finding which says that several CARIFORUM states “do not have an independent judicial system that can provide preliminary injunctions and final rulings regarding intellectual property rights.”

CARIFORUM expressed eagerness at the second review of the EPA, citing an earlier position from the first review that “CARIFORUM States had not yet started to reap the anticipated benefits of the Agreement.”

The trading bloc challenges the idea circulating that this current report constitutes the joint five-year review mandated under the CARIFORUM-EU EPA, and noted, instead, that this review has not yet commenced, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, senior officials of both Parties continued to engage at the technical level to prepare for that review.

“CARIFORUM hopes that the upcoming Review will address the need for the EU to build greater awareness of the EPA among EU operators, including border/regulatory agencies, to curtail the barriers experienced by CARIFORUM States, particularly for the trade in services,” the CARIFORUM statement concluded.

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