Transcript Contentious issues in the TIP ( Trade facilitation and

EAC-USA TRADE AND
INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP
AGREEMENT
ELIZABETH TAMALE –ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER
MTIC
US-EAC Trade and Investment
Framework Agreement (TIFA)
• US-EAC TIFA was signed on 16th July 2008 by the US Trade
Representative on behalf of the USA Government and the
Director of Customs, EAC Secretariat on behalf of the EAC
Partner States;
• Individual EAC Partner states had earlier signed bilateral
Investment agreements or Trade and Investment Agreements
with US;
• EAC-USA currently negotiating a Trade and Investment
Partnership Agreement which covers all IP, labour rights,
environment
WTO negotiations
• Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO, members
established a clear link between sustainable development and
disciplined trade liberalization;
• Doha Round, members pledged to pursue a sustainable
development path by launching the first ever multilateral
trade and environment negotiations;
• Doha Round have a direct bearing on sustainable
development and can therefore contribute positively to efforts
to mitigate and adapt to climate change;
• WTO's regular work provides a platform for addressing the
linkages between trade and climate change;
Environment Goods
• Liberalising environmental goods and services;
• WTO members are working to eliminate trade barriers in the
goods and services that can benefit the environment;
• Facilitating access to environmental products and services can
help improve energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and have a positive impact on air quality, water, soil
and natural resources conservation;
• Environmental goods can cover key technologies that
contribute positively to the fight against climate change,
• Environmental goods and technologies are in the hands of
developed countries;
cont
• Reducing or eliminating import tariffs and non-tariff barriers in
these types of products will reduce their price and make them
more accessible;
• Increased competition will foster technological innovation in
areas related to protection of the environment and combating
climate change;
• Elimination of tariff and NTBs on clean technologies may
result into increase in trade;
cont
• Environmental goods under discussion DR include: wind and
hydropower turbines, solar water heaters, tanks for the
production of biogas, and landfill liners for methane
collection;
• Submission by the European Communities and the United
States in December 2007 proposes to give priority in the WTO
negotiations to climate-friendly goods and to services linked
to addressing climate change;
• These products comprise about one-third of the
environmental goods already identified by a group of
delegations;
Environmental Services
• The Uruguay Round focuses on Negotiations focused on
sewage services, refuse disposal services and sanitation
services listed in the environmental services sector of the
Services;
• Other environmental services include “cleaning of exhaust
gases” and “nature and landscape protection services” are
directly relevant to climate change mitigation measures.
• Cleaning of exhaust gases includes emission monitoring and
services aiming to control and reduce the level of pollutants in
the air, caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
• Nature and landscape protection services entail various
services aimed at protecting ecological systems as well as
studies on the inter-relationships between environment and
climate.
Multilateral Environmental
treaties
• Members are also assessing the relationship between
Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) and trade to
ensure that there is no conflict;
• Article 3.5 of the UNFCCC and Article 2.3 of the Kyoto
Protocol provide that measures taken to combat climate
change should not constitute a means of arbitrary or
unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on
international trade and
• should be implemented so as to minimize adverse effects,
including on international trade, and social, environmental
and economic impacts on other Parties.
Agriculture
• Elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers and a reduction in
agricultural support in developed countries may lead to a
more efficient allocation of global resources and production;
• Trade negotiations increase trade opportunities for developing
countries which could lead to important income gains;
• Increased incomes may enable poorer countries to adopt
technologies such as irrigation ;that reduce their vulnerability
to the effects of climate change;
• BUT subsidies and domestic support are not subjected for
discussion in bilateral agreement
Cont
• Development of the biofuels can assist them in meeting their
reduction commitments for greenhouse gas emissions under
the Kyoto Protocol;
• BUT what is the effect of biofuels on food security of poor
countries?
• Biodiesel and bioethanol used to be traded as agricultural
products.
• In 2005, the World Customs Organization decided to put
“biodiesel” in Chapter VI on “products of chemical and allied
industries” (HS 382490). Bioethanol is still traded under HS
2207 in Chapter 22 on “beverages, sprits and vinegar
• Bilateral negotiations may focus on reduced taxes for biofuels
contn
• An increasing number of private sector standards might
include production or labelling requirements, with the stated
objective of mitigating or adapting to the negative effects of
climate change;
• Though non-mandatory, they may affect market access
conditions for a range of products;
• A number of issues indirectly relating to climate change, such
as the environmental benefits of removing trade restrictions in
the energy and forestry sectors and the effect of energy
efficiency labelling on market access may have an impact on
access;
• Carbon footprint of international transportation, “food
miles” is an emerging concept that involves the calculation of
CO2 emissions associated with the transport of food over long
distances to arrive at the final consumer;
• More preference of home grown food and plants;
• Due to high energy requirement home grown food and plants
may emit higher gasses that imported i.e. Dutch flowers vs
Kenya flowers.
• Some of these are private standards though they affect trade.
US TIPA
• Art 12 investment and environment
• Recognises existing investment laws and policies , multilateral
environment agreements;
• Investment should not weaken or reduce the protection of
domestic environmental laws;
• Each party retains the right to exercise discretion with respect
to regulatory, compliance, investigatory etc. regarding
allocation of resources to enforce other environmental
matters;
• Art 6: Expropriation and compensation
• No party may expropriate or nationalise (exceptions) this may
involve closure of establishments due to policy change
contn
• Article 8: Performance requirement shall not be imposed i.e.
on transfer of a particular technology, production process or
any other proprietary knowledge to a person in its territoryhow do you handle the requirement for technology transfer
provision in Investment code
What needs to be done
• Clear understanding of relationship between environment,
climatic change and trade
• Examine the National Environment laws and policies and how
they affect trade
• What are our international obligations? And are they binding?
• Examine the various Multilateral environment treaties and
assess how they treat least developed countries
• What are the exemptions available for LDCs and how can we
factor them into the bilateral investment treaties?
• How do we integrate the EAC climatic change policies and
concerns in the EAC-USA TIPA
conclusion
• How do we integrate the EAC investment policies in the EACUSA TIPA
• National and EAC consultation process should involve all
stakeholders
• Examine multilateral current negotiations while negotiating
bilateral agreement,
• Some provisions may hinder market access and may be
obstacle to trade;
• Should demand for technology transfer and easy access to
technologies that mitigate climatic change
• Compulsory licensing of for technologies that address climatic
change to make it affordable to poor countries.
I THANK YOU