Thursday, November 8, 2007

Agricultural safeguard measures in the EPAs

With Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) set to be finalised at the end of the year, civil society is becoming increasingly alarmed that the agreements could have a potentially negative impact on the competitiveness of agriculture and the food and livelihood security of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. One tool to combat such a situation would be the ability of ACP countries to take emergency measures and restrict imports of a product temporarily – i.e. take "safeguard" measures – if its domestic industry is injured or threatened with injury, says Luisa Rodriguez, Programme Officer, South Centre in her article "Agricultural safeguard measures in the EPAs" published in the ICTSD's Trade Negotiations Insights, Volume 6. No. 7 (November 2007).

The article explores three reasons why an agricultural safeguard mechanism should be included in the EPAs and provides some recommendations on its design. Read the complete article at: http://www.ictsd.org/tni/tni_english/TNI_EN_6.7.pdf

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