Regional Trade Agreements in the WTO framework: the case of the ACP-EC relationship

INTRODUCTION The proliferation of regional trade agreements has undeniably become, in the last decade, a prominent feature of the multilateral trading system underpinned by the WTO rules. Such proliferation has posed over time, and indeed keeps posing, important questions related to the WTO compatibility of regional trade agreements. Starting from this assumption, this dissertation aims at giving a comprehensive overview of these compatibility issues, through the examination of a long-lasting and complex preferential relationship, the one between the European Community (EC) and the countries belonging to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group. The trade-creating or trade-diverting effects of regional economic integration, as Viner first put it1 have long been a controversial issue, and an evaluation of what is best, and of the economic impact of regionalism, does not fall within the scope of this work; it is up to the economists to assess the actual impact of regional trade agreements, and make suggestions about the model that serves most the general objectives pursued by the GATT/WTO system of agreements, objectives which can be summarized, quoting the preamble to the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation, as the ones of “…raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand, and expanding the production of and trade in goods and services, while allowing for the optimal use of the world’s resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, seeking both to protect and preserve the environment and to enhance the means for doing so in a manner consistent with their respective needs and concerns at different levels of economic development”. 1 See Jacob Viner, The Customs Union Issue, New York: Carnegie Endowment for Peace (1950) 3