Legal and Systematic Issues in the Interim Partnership Agreements: Which Way Now?

by Cosmas Milton Obote Ochieng

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This issue paper, titled “Legal and Systemic Contested issues in Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and WTO Rules: Which Way Now?”, and written by Dr Cosmas Milton Obote O’chieng, is a contribution to this process. The paper provides a legal analysis of some systemic issues regarding the relationship between the WTO and EPAs.  Some of these issues include the following:

• The application of the Most Favourable Nation Clause, Article XXIV of GATT and its relationship with EPAs,

• The effects of the “standstill” clause on bound or applied tariff rates applied to ACP countries by WTO members,

• The political and legal effects of the “Non-Execution Clause” in EPAs;

• The articulation of the dispute settlement mechanisms of EPAs and their interactions with the WTO one.

The paper concludes with a series of legal recommendations that could be useful to all stakeholders in understanding the stakes involved in the EPA negotiations.

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