EU-ACP Trade Relations and the Reform of Rules of Origin

EU-ACP Trade Relations and The Reform of Rules of Origin - Chapter I - 1. Trade for development in EU-ACP relations 1.1. EU-ACP relations and new dynamics of international trade The origin of EU relations with the Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP) group of States dates back to the decolonisation period, when former European colonies, and in particular francophone countries, joined their efforts to counterbalance the influence of their former colonisers. The founding stones of EU-ACP relations are present in the Treaty of Rome, which granted associated status to 31 Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs). It also provided for the creation of a European Development Fund (EDF) to grant technical and financial assistance to the countries which were still under European rule at the time. Although the EC recognized solidarity as the basis for these agreements, they were rooted in the colonial regime under which OCTs were subject. As the first wave of decolonisation brought former associated territories to gain full sovereignty, new independent states needed to assume new international obligations. In 1963, seventeen African countries plus Madagascar met in Yaoundé with EC countries to sign the first Yaoundé Convention establishing an institutional structure for cooperation. The Yaoundé Convention recognised full sovereignty between the Parties, set up the framework for financial assistance through the EDF and for the movement of capital flows through the European Investment Bank (EIB), as well as trade preferences were granted for a limited set of goods exported by the former colonies into the EC. In 1969 the Yaoundé framework was renewed until 1975 providing the basis for future EU-ACP cooperation as we know it today. Expiring the Yaoundé convention, the establishment of a new preferential trade agreement instead of a continuation of the old one was incited by both unsatisfactory outcomes of the previous arrangement as well as changes in the European political framework. From the developing countries’ point of view, the call for new negotiations was prompted by the strong neo-colonial aspects which were still detectable in the Yaoundé Agreement and the disappointing economic results it had produced. From a European point of view, the development strategy experienced a shift from a regional to a more global approach with the introduction of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) in 1971. Simultaneously, the accession of the United Kingdom to the EC in 1973 meant that the Francophone focus of development policy was soon shifted to include the developing countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. With a front of former colonies developing countries getting larger, spanning through three continents, 41 countries under the umbrella of ACP group since then on, entered into - 1 -