Reprieve for flower exporters as EU extends EPAs deadline

By Luke Anami

 Kenya flower exports will continue to enjoy duty free market access to the European Market, but only until January 2016.

This follows last month’s decision by European Parliament to extend the proposed deadline for concluding a market access amendment.

The amendment was to have been concluded and signed before the full Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiations with African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP) — that include Kenya.

The European Parliament voted on September 12 to postpone the decision to implement a proposed European Council Regulation (1528/2007) clause that would see Kenya flower exports attract a 16 per cent duty from a 2013 deadline to January 2016.

The move to amend the clause before conclusion of full EPAs would have seen a number of ACP countries — including Kenya — lose duty free, quota free access to European markets by next year.

It would have led to high labour costs and thereby reduce the competitiveness of Kenya’s flower exports to the EU.

Conclude deal

Reacting to the news, Kenya’s Parliamentary Group representative to the ACP, Dr Joyce Laboso, said the time frame will grant Kenya — under the auspices of East African Community — ample time to conclude the Full EPAs.

“All the pending issues are about to be signed. The EAC region is moving fast to conclude the negotiations and Kenya will have signed by the time of the deadline,” said Dr Laboso.

ACP Secretary General, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, lauded the decision, saying it was a prudent move given the realities on the ground.

“The European Parliament has shown wise political judgment in extending the period for negotiation of EPAs to January 1, 2016. Negotiating the EPAs is a complicated process, involving a number of very complex and diverse issues which can impact heavily on our developing economies,” Dr Chambas said.

“(Such deals) requires careful and thorough discussions, without the pressure of unreasonable deadlines. The two year extension can help to facilitate a more serene environment to make balanced decisions beneficial to all parties,” he stated.

“We should also recall that earlier, the European Parliament had called on the European Commission to show flexibility in the negotiation process. It is hoped that the Commission will demonstrate such flexibility in order to resolve the outstanding contentious issues between now and 2016.”

Remove access

 Chambas reiterated that ACP was completely opposed to the proposal to remove quota free, duty free market access privileges for ACP countries while EPAs negotiations are going on.

“We encourage negotiations and a serene environment where the interests of ACP countries are taken into account in arriving at a comprehensive economic partnership agreement that is development friendly, and that also reinforces regional integration.”

With the exception of the Caribbean, six other regional blocs in the ACP Group have yet to conclude full regional EPAs since discussions began in 2002. Countries have called for the resolution of various “contentious issues” before signing.

Issues of concern include the 15-year time frame before ACP markets must be opened up to free trade with Europe, the extent of goods and services to be liberalised, rules and requirements for goods to enter Europe — for example, phyto-sanitary measures — and rules of origin, export taxes, and numerous other key clauses in the agreements.

Countries to be directly affected by the Commission’s proposal include Cameroon, Fiji, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

These would fall back on to the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme, with increased tariffs on most of their key exports.

 

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