Summary
The EU UTPS regulation has not been transposed into member states national law, but with uneven results. Ensuring common standards of enforcement to uphold minimum EU requirements for removing UTPS in agri-food supply chins is no essential. Equally there is an urgent need to ensure enforcement mechanisms recognise the realities of ACP-to-EU supply chains and actively prevent the adoption of commercial practices between importers and exporters which de facto circumvent the intention of EU UTP regulations in regard to 3rd country-EU supply chains. Read more “Deadline for Transposition of EU UTP Regulation into National Law Passes but Major Questions Related to UTPs Remain”
Category: EU trade policy
Can European Parliament Concerns Over the Application of the EU Entry Price System for Tomatoes Hold Lessons for South Africa’s Poultry Sector?
Summary
Parliamentary calls are being made for the EC to revise the use of its entry price system for tomatoes, to enhance the effectiveness of this trade policy tool in the face of low-priced imports which undermine the commercial viability of EU tomato production. A similar entry price system could usefully be deployed to protect South African poultry meat producers when applying safeguard measures. This should be duly considered as part of the ongoing South African poultry sector tariff policy review. Read more “Can European Parliament Concerns Over the Application of the EU Entry Price System for Tomatoes Hold Lessons for South Africa’s Poultry Sector?”
EC Urged to Ensure Greater Reciprocity in SPS Protocols and More Effective Enforcement
Summary
Freshfel Europe has called for the EC and member states to develop ‘a concrete EU SPS strategy’ to improve access for EU fruit and vegetable exporters to 3rd country markets. ACP governments will need to take a nuanced approach to such overtures, paying careful attention to the practical operational policy implications of any commitments entered into, especially in regard to the possible impact on their relations with other major third country trading partners and regional trade integration initiatives. Read more “EC Urged to Ensure Greater Reciprocity in SPS Protocols and More Effective Enforcement”
Challenge Thrown Down on Inclusion of Living Income Requirements Under Pending EU Due Diligence Regulations in the Cocoa Sector
Summary
While the EC is preparing ‘due diligence’ regulations linked to both human rights and deforestation concerns, current market trends and the sourcing decisions of some cocoa grinders is undermining the newly introduced Living Income Differential scheme jointly agreed by the governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, with the aim of securing a living income for cocoa farmers. Establishing EU ‘due diligence’ requirements which ensure all cocoa products placed for sale on the EU market are sourced from countries where minimum producer income requirements are met (e.g., the LID), would make a major contribution to ongoing efforts to lift cocoa farmers out of poverty across the globe. This is the critical policy challenge faced. Read more “Challenge Thrown Down on Inclusion of Living Income Requirements Under Pending EU Due Diligence Regulations in the Cocoa Sector”
South Africa to Undertake Comprehensive Poultry Sector Tariff Review
Summary
The South African International Trade Administration Commission is undertaking a comprehensive review of South Africa’s poultry sector trade policy in light of the objectives of the South African Poultry Sector Master Plan. This review could usefully draw on the EU’s experience of designing and applying trade policy tools in support of wider public policy objectives while respecting international trade policy obligations. Read more “South Africa to Undertake Comprehensive Poultry Sector Tariff Review”
Demand for Cane Sugar Likely to Come Under Further Pressure Now Based on Climate Concerns
Summary
Environmental and sustainability concerns over sugar production alongside growing health concerns over levels of sugar consumption are likely to reduce overall demand for ACP cane sugar in both the UK and EU in the coming years. This will come on top of the new rules of origin/MFN tariff complications facing ACP cane sugar exporters, as a result of the Brexit process and the radical changes in EU sugar market conditions which have been underway since 2005. ACP sugar producers will need to factor these trends into their global sugar marketing strategies if existing patterns of production are to be sustained. Read more “Demand for Cane Sugar Likely to Come Under Further Pressure Now Based on Climate Concerns”
UK Relaxation of Citrus Sector Phytosanitary Requirement Comes as Relief in Face of Mounting Spanish Citrus Producer Pressures, but Not Without its Complications
Summary
Spanish citrus producers continue to push for stricter phytosanitary controls on imports from Southern Africa. It is unclear whether this is driven by genuine phytosanitary concerns or commercial concerns. The increased commercial threat facing Spanish producers comes from Egyptian exporters, rather than Southern African suppliers, while the principal phytosanitary threat comes from Turkey. Despite this situation, Spanish citrus industry concerns may be taken up forcefully under the EU-SADC EPA review, given the other agri-food sector dispute the EU has with the SADC EPA region (e.g., in regard to safeguard restrictions on poultry meat imports from the EU). While Southern African citrus exporters see Brexit as an opportunity, given more relaxed UK phytosanitary import requirements, this will be at the cost of increased rules of origin and phytosanitary control complications along triangular supply chains (both EU to UK and UK to Ireland). These complications may require a restructuring of some routes to market used by Southern African citrus exporters serving UK and Irish markets. Read more “UK Relaxation of Citrus Sector Phytosanitary Requirement Comes as Relief in Face of Mounting Spanish Citrus Producer Pressures, but Not Without its Complications”
Implications of the Veterinary Constraint on UK Export Health Certification
Summary
UK trade related veterinary inspection and certification services are facing serious problems of recruitment and retention as demand sours. There are calls for both a greater government role in the organisation and conduct of trade related veterinary inspection services and the establishment of para-professional veterinary support staff for the conduct of trade related inspection and certification activities. However, unless changes designed to address staffing constraints are introduced in close consultation with trade partners such changes could disrupt trade, creating a dual system of EU and non-EU accepted health certification. While there are also calls for new UK electronic EHC systems which are compatible with EU systems and for the UK to negotiate a veterinarian equivalency agreement with the EU, the current political atmosphere and evolving situation on the ground are not conducive to early progress in these areas. This could potentially give rise to UK export surges of livestock products to ACP countries and even EU export surges to ACP countries, if the UK enforces equivalent controls on imports from the EU, to avoid undermining the competitive position of UK livestock product producers. Read more “Implications of the Veterinary Constraint on UK Export Health Certification”
Post Brexit Problems in UK Meat Exports to the EU and Implications for UK Poultry Meat exports to ACP Countries
Summary
UK meat exports to the EU are down 50% in the first six weeks of 2021, with the decline in poultry meat being initially most pronounced. In the long term it is expected UK exports will be down between 230% and 50% depending on the product and size of the exporting enterprises. Particularly in the poultry meat sector this could lead to a surge in exports to non-EU markets, with African and Caribbean markets for frozen poultry parts likely to be targeted. This could easily double current levels of UK exports to targeted African and Caribbean markets. The eventual level of UK trade diversion in the poultry sector will be determined by the nature of the controls placed on mainland UK to Northern Ireland poultry trade. Read more “Post Brexit Problems in UK Meat Exports to the EU and Implications for UK Poultry Meat exports to ACP Countries”
The Implications of the EUs More Assertive Trade Policy: The EU Trade Policy Review Part 2
Summary
The EC is proposing a ‘more assertive’ trade policy, emphasising the need for partner countries to fully live up to commitments entered into under trade agreements their governments have signed on to. There are concerns the more assertive promotion of EU trade and economic interests will dominate other EU trade policy objectives. The EC’s ‘Open Strategic Autonomy’ concept seeks to reconcile the EU’s ‘managed trade’ import regime applied in sensitive agri-food sector, with the need for more open markets for EU exporters. There is a contradiction at the heart of EU agri-food sector trade policy, with the EC seeking to deny ACP EPA signatories the right to use trade policy tools to regulate imports in trade with the EU which the EC itself routinely uses to manage imports from other major agri-food sector competitors. This contradiction is likely to come to the fore in the coming years as the EC seeks to operationalise its ‘more assertive’ trade policy. This will be especially the case if the application of full UK border controls on goods crossing from the EU, generate the kinds of agri-food sector disruptions which have affected UK exporters since 1 January 2021. This could then see surges in EU exports to ACP markets for livestock products such as poultry meat and milk powders. Read more “The Implications of the EUs More Assertive Trade Policy: The EU Trade Policy Review Part 2”