Guyana’s interest in protecting the brand name ‘Demerara’ may be possible with respect to sugar, rum and molasses under the provisions of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) initialled between the European Union (EU) and Cariforum countries two Sundays ago.
According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs brief on the just concluded Cariforum-European Commission (EC) EPA agreement, after four years of intense dialogue Guyana may be able to protect the brand name under the Intellectual Property provisions under which Cariforum member states could identify potential Geographic Indica-tors and seek protection/ recognition by the European Commission (EC) in the EU market.
The Cariforum countries comprise Caricom and the Dominican Republic (DR).
The brief said that the Ministry of Foreign Trade has already initiated discussions with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), the Guyana Sugar Corporation and the Ministry of Legal Affairs in this regard. The intellectual property rights provisions cover a number of broader areas addressed under the EPA. Some of the others areas include the market access offer in goods, services, and development cooperation.
On market access on goods, the foreign trade ministry said an agreement was reached for Cariforum to liberalise motor vehicles, gasoline and mobile phones within the 15-year phase period. The tariff liberalization schedule, (phase-out periods) agreed to for Cariforum in relation to import duties is as follows, immediately – from the application of the agreement – 52.8% of the imports from the EU and total trade between Cariforum and the EU, 70%; within five years, 56% of imports from the EU and total trade between Cariforum and EU, 72%; within 10 years 61.1% of imports from the EU and total trade between Cariforum and EU, 75.3; within 15 years 82.7% of EU imports and 89.3% of total trade; within 20 years 84.6% of EU imports and 90.5% of total trade between Cariforum and EU; within 25 (final years) years 86.9% of imports from the EU and total trade between the Cariforum and EU, 92.0%. The exclusions from tariff liberalization accounts for the 100% of EU imports and 100% of Cariforum and EU total trade.
The brief also noted that a moratorium of three years would apply in each phase before tariff reductions will begin. Cariforum would also have the flexibility to make the reductions in two-year intervals. However, in the first five-year phase no tariff reductions are required/ expected of Cariforum between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010. The tariff reductions would be completed in the remaining two years – 2011 and 2012.
For motor vehicles, which would be liberalized in the 15-year phase, a moratorium of 10 years is agreed such that no tariff reduction is required between 2008 and 2017. The import duty on motor vehicles would be eliminated during 2018 to 2022. Where applicable the brief also said that Cariforum member states would remove export duties on imports from the EC by December 31, 2010.
The EU had proposed a one-year moratorium but agreed to three years to coincide with the moratorium on the import duties liberalization. Guyana, along with Antigua and Barbuda and Suriname are the only Cariforum countries that charge export duties on imports from the EU. Antigua and Barbuda has offered to remove its export duties from the start of the agreement in 2008.
Other duties and charges would be eliminated within ten years with a moratorium of seven years to allow Cariforum members to make the necessary fiscal adjustments.
On other issues, both sides agreed to extend to each other Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment in the event either side enters a free trade agreement (FTA) after the EPA. In the case of the EU, such obligation will arise from FTAs with all countries. In the case of Cariforum, the obligate would be restricted to “any major trading economy”, which is defined in Article 11 of Chapter 1 (Part II) which deals with trade and trade related matters.
The Cariforum group agreed on the treatment of regional preferences.
According to the statement too, where a Cariforum state extends most favourable treatment to the EU in the EPA, such treatment should also be extended to the other Cari-forum states. A compromise arrangement was agreed where the More Developed Countries of Caricom, and the DR, will exchange such treatment one year after the signature of the EPA. The Less Developed Countries of Caricom would be required to do so with the DR two years after signature.
Meanwhile, in the DR, the Daily Dominican Republic News (DDRN) reported that, apart from benefiting from a quota of 30,000 tonnes of sugar for export to the EU market until September 30, 2009, when the Sugar Protocol comes to an end, the DR will benefit under the EPA by facilitating the export of Dominican products to Caricom countries. This goes far beyond what the FTA with Caricom had accomplished.
The DDRN quoted head of the CRNM and Cariforum’s chief negotiator, Ambassador Richard Bernal, as describing the EPA as historic in terms of content and precedent. According to Bernal the culmination of the negotiation process has come later than previously scheduled but by completing the EPA before the end of the year, Cariforum countries have ensured that their product exports to the EU will not face the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) treatment or face MFN duties in 2008. As of January 1, 2008, with the temporary exception for rice and sugar, all Cariforum goods will have duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market.
Cariforum is the first group within the ACP to clinch a comprehensive EPA with the EU making it more compatible with World Trade Organisation trade regulations. The EPA replaces the Cotonou Agreement which expires on December 31.
