June 2011
Services and legal experts consider EPA implementation
Services and legal officials met in Saint Lucia during 14-15th June to consider a report of a review started in November 2010, which involves the OECS Member States who are party to the CARIFORUM-EU EPA. The objectives of the review were to:
- Identify, for each OECS Member State, pieces of legislation related to Trade in Services and Investment that need to be brought into conformity with the Agreement, including suggested legislative changes and drafting instructions, and,
- Identify and design possible projects for ensuring conformity of the OECS countries’ legislation with the CARIFORUM-EU EPA.
The draft final report highlighted, legislation related to Trade in Services and Investment that needs to be brought into conformity with the CARIFORUM-EU EPA, as well as the areas where technical and or financial assistance is required to fill the gaps such as the development of a regulatory framework for professional and courier services, competition policy, policy guidance for use of economic needs tests. The officials recommended that upon completion of the final report a meeting of officials should be convened to discuss the areas requiring support.
The Organization of American States (OAS) in collaboration with the EPA Implementation Unit of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat and the OECS Secretariat coordinated the review throughout the participating OECS Member States.
The Trade Policy Unit prepares for the Sixteenth Meeting of the TNG
The Unit continued it preparations for the sixteenth meeting of the Trade Negotiations Group (TNG) to be held on July 5-6th in Grenada. Bilateral negotiations between CARICOM and Canada feature high on the agenda following the third round of negotiations in April 2011. One area of intensive work in these negotiations is Services, where the region anticipates it will extract the most benefits from this agreement. The implementation of the OECS Economic Union will also be discussed, focusing on the creation of the common market for goods and services. Also to be considered are EPA and CSME implementation. The multilateral negotiations in the WTO and progress on the development of the programme for banana accompanying measures will be discussed by the meeting as well as ongoing trade capacity building projects that support the work of the OECS Trade Policy Unit.
The TNG is comprised of trade officials and private sector representatives of Member States and the Secretariat. Financial resources to convene the meeting were provided by the Inter American Development Bank under a trade capacity building project.
If you have questions about trade policy issues:
Email contact: tpu@oecs.org
An Update from the OECS Trade Policy Unit on Trade Matters of Importance to the Sub Region
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