RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/C/W/187
2 March 2000
(00-0808)
Council for Trade in Goods Original:  English/
                 French/
                 Spanish
REQUEST FOR A WTO WAIVER
New ACP-EC Partnership Agreement
The following communication, dated 29 February 2000, has been received from the
Permanent Delegations of the European Commission on behalf of the EC and from Tanzania and
Jamaica on behalf of the ACP countries.
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In accordance with Article IX of the WTO Agreement, we have the honour to submit on
behalf of all the parties to the recently conclu ded agreement between the European Community and
the ACP countries, a request for the extension of the existing waiver in order to allow the maintenance
of preferential trade between the parties.  We enclose a short communication to WTO Members which
explains the background to this request.  A draft decision text in respect of the waiver requested will
follow shortly as a basis for discussion.G/C/W/187
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1. Purpose of the request
The European Community (EC) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States1
concluded negotiations on a Partnership Agreement (PA) on 3 February 2000 in Brussels aimed at the
establishment of a new framework for their future relations.  The Agreement will, inter alia , regulate
trade between these two groups of countries, as well as the political dimension of their relations, their
development cooperation strategies and their financial cooperation subsequent to the expiration of the
fourth Lomé Convention on 29 February 2000.
In view of the important role of trade and in vestment in the process of economic growth and
overall development of the ACP countries and considering that the trade regime of this Agreement is
aimed at promoting the further integration of the ACP countries in the world trading system, theParties to the Agreement present this request for a waiver from the provisions of paragraph 1 of
Article I of the General Agreement (GATT 1994) to the extent necessary to permit the European
Community to provide preferential treatment for products originating in the ACP States as required by
the relevant provisions of the EC-ACP Partnershi p Agreement, without being required to extend the
same preferential treatment to the like products of any other WTO Member.
2. Main features of the new ACP-EC Partnership Agreement
The negotiations on the ACP-EC PA were concluded in Brussels on 3 February 2000 by the
71 ACP countries on the one side and the EC and its Member States on the other side. Fifty-five ACPcountries are Members of the WTO, as are all EC Member States and the European Community.
These countries represent more than half of the total WTO membership. The trade provisions of the
new PA do not apply to one of the ACP countries, South Africa, whose trade relations with the EC are
regulated by a separate agreement. The ceremony of signature of the PA will take place on
8 June 2000 in Suva (Fiji) and the ratification process would be completed in a period of two years.The trade provisions of the new PA will be rendered applicable as of 1
st March 2000 on the basis of
transitional measures adopted by the ACP-EC Committee of Ambassadors on 29 February 2000.
The trade provisions of the new ACP-EC PA, which will enter into force on 1 March 2000,
provide for a preparatory period of eight years (Art.37.1). This period is shorter than the previous
Lomé IV trade regime, which was 10 years. The trade regime of the PA is preparatory in nature. The
Parties ultimate objective is to enable the ACP States to integrate successfully in the world economywithin the multilateral trading system. The Parties ha ve, therefore, agreed to conclude by the end of
the preparatory period new WTO compatible trading arrangements, under which they will remove
progressively barriers to trade between them and enhance cooperation in all areas relevant to trade
(Art.36. 1 and 2).
3. Description of the measures for which a waiver is requested
Under Article 36.3 of the PA the EC shall during the preparatory period grant non-reciprocal
preferential treatment substantially equivalent to the trade regime of the Fourth Lomé Convention for
products originating in the ACP countries, under the conditions defined in Annex V to the PA. Thepreparatory period is necessary to negotiate the future WTO compatible arrangements. In the
meanwhile, the EC will continue to provide non-reciprocal preferential access to the ACP products on
the EC market in order to facilitate the transition to the new trading arrangements.
During the preparatory period, products originating in the ACP States shall be imported into
the Community free of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect (Art. 1.1 of Annex V).
With respect to imports of agricultural products from the ACP States, the Community has undertaken
                                                     
1 Hereinafter the “Parties to the Agreement”. The list of the ACP States is attachedG/C/W/187
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to adopt the necessary measures allowing more fa vourable treatment than that granted to third
countries benefiting from the most-favoured nation clause (Art. 1.2 of Annex V). The Banana
Protocol attached to the Fourth Lomé Convention has not been renewed. There is now a second
banana protocol, which does not provide for trade preferences for bananas. Bananas’ preferential
treatment results from Article 1 of Annex V of the PA. Preferential access for bananas shall begranted in accordance with the general principles of the PA in the context of the Community’s new
banana import regime.
4. Circumstances justifying the waiver
The successive Lomé Conventions between AC P countries and the EC have contributed
substantially to the process of economic developmen t in the ACP countries. In particular, the ACP
exports to the EC represent 38 per cent of their total exports and this percentage goes up to 48% for
the African ACP exports.
The new PA aims at improving the standards of living and economic development of the ACP
States, including the least developed among them. The new ACP-EC PA trade regime is designed tocontinue the expansion of trade and economic development of the ACP countries in a manner
consistent with the objectives of the WTO and with the level of development of the ACP States and
not to raise barriers or to create undue difficulties for the trade of any of the other WTO Members.
The PA does not create any impediment to the redu ction or the elimination of tariffs or other
restrictions to trade on a most-favoured-nation basis. The tariff preferences under the PA will not
affect benefits to other developing countries under the EC’s GSP programme.
Under the PA, the economic and trade cooperati on between the Parties shall be directed at
enabling the ACP States to manage the challenges of globalisation and to adapt progressively to newconditions of international trade thereby facilitatin g their transition to the liberalised global economy
(Art. 34.2).
The circumstances justifying the earlier waiver for the fourth Lomé Convention, in particular
the trade, financial and development needs of the beneficiary States, however, continue to exist.
While the Convention has promoted the economic gr owth of the ACP States, their present level of
development requires the continuation of the preferential treatment.
5. Conclusion
The Parties to the Partnership Agreement request on the basis of Article IX:3 of the
Marrakech Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation a waiver from the obligations ofthe European Community under Article I:1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 with
respect to the granting of preferential treatment for products originating in ACP countries as provided
for in the new Partnership Agreement for the duration of the preparatory period, 1 March 2000-
31 December 2007.
The Parties to the Agreement request that the Council for Trade in Goods give their
application for a waiver expeditious and favourable consideration. In the meantime, the Parties to the
Agreement are prepared to give full consideration to representations made to them by other WTO
Members and to engage in consultations with them as may be necessary.G/C/W/187
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ANNEX 1
ACP States(71)
Angola  * Ghana * Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines *
Antigua and Barbuda * Grenada * Samoa
Bahamas Guinea  * Sao Tome  & Principe
Barbados * Guinea-Bissau  * Senegal *
Belize * Equatorial Guinea Seychelles
Benin  * Guyana * Sierra Leone *
Botswana * Haiti  * Solomon Islands*
Burkina Faso  * Jamaica * Somalia
Burundi  * Kenya * South Africa * (1)
Cameroon * Kiribati Sudan
Cap Verde Lesotho  * Suriname *
Central African Republic * Liberia Swaziland *
Chad  * Madagascar * Tanzania  *
Comoros Malawi  * Togo  *
Congo (Brazzaville) * Mali  * Tonga
Congo  (Democratic
Republic of) *Mauritania  * Trinidad and Tobago *
Côte d’Ivoire * Mauritius * Tuvalu
Djibouti * Mozambique  * Uganda  *
Dominica * Namibia * Vanuatu
Dominican Republic * Niger  * Zambia  *
Eritrea Nigeria * Zimbabwe *
Ethiopia Papua New Guinea *
Fiji * Rwanda  *
Gabon * Saint Kitts and Nevis *
Gambia  * St. Lucia *
* ACP States WTO members (55)
(1) Trade provisions not applicable.
Least developed countries (UN list) in italics. (39)
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