The Way Forward for the Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement

The policy brief examines the impasse in negotiations for the SADC EPA, which were set to end on 1 October 2014. It identifies four primary obstacles: the EU's demand for a ban on export taxes, the restrictive nature of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clause, the slow activation of agricultural safeguards, and the technical complexity of rules of origin. The author proposes compromises, such as shifting the MFN clause to a percentage-based liberalisation model and inverting the burden of proof for agricultural safeguards, to ensure the agreement is politically viable and supports African industrialisation and sovereignty.

• The European Union's demand for a ban on export taxes is viewed as an intrusion on African sovereignty and a means to maintain colonial value chains, whereas African states use these taxes to encourage local processing and industrialisation.
• The current Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clause is contentious because it may stifle African states' ability to expand future free trade agreements with third parties, such as Brazil, India, and China, by automatically granting the EU similar access.
• To resolve the MFN deadlock, the author proposes a compromise where African states match the percentage of tariff lines liberalised in other deals rather than matching specific line-by-line tariffs.
• Agricultural safeguards in the SADC EPA are considered too slow to implement due to a 30-day notification period; the author suggests that safeguards should come into force immediately and remain until proven unnecessary.
• While rules of origin are not highly contentious, their technical complexity requires capacity building, including finance for customs agencies, the establishment of one-stop offices in trade hubs, and trade finance for first-time exporters.

APA

Wood, C. (2014). The Way Forward for the Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Policy-Briefing-97.pdf

Chicago

Wood, Christopher. The Way Forward for the Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2014. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Policy-Briefing-97.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Wood |first1=Christopher |title=The Way Forward for the Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=June 2014 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Policy-Briefing-97.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wood2014way, author = {Wood, Christopher}, title = {{The Way Forward for the Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2014}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Policy-Briefing-97.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }