Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the SADC EPA States

The Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement (SADC EPA) States entered into force in October 2016.  It is under provisional implementation in Mozambique since February 2018. It provides for the elimination of tariffs and quotas for all imports from Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini into the EU, and for the elimination of most import duties from the EU to Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Eswatini.

Most energy and industrial products benefit from preferential tariff treatment under the Agreement, including:

• Electric motors, turbines and generators; 
• Mechanical equipment including pumps, appliances, and other advanced machinery; 
• Electric accumulators, transformers, capacitors, batteries; 
• Motor vehicles; 
• Mineral ore, slag and ash; 
• Mineral fuels, oils and other products; 
• Metals and their articles e.g. iron and steel; 
• Semiconductors devices and photovoltaic cells; 

The Agreement provides for asymmetric provisions in favour of SADC EPA countries, who can implement bilateral safeguards and increase import duties for certain goods, for which an increase in EU import may threaten to disrupt domestic production. In addition, under the Agreement, the EU grants imports from SADC EPA countries a 5-year renewable exemption from any safeguard measure it may implement. 

Rules of origin, which dictate that a product may benefit from preferential tariff treatment if produced or sufficiently transformed in one of the signatory countries, are also flexible for SADC EPA States, who may request for derogations to be be granted, under specific conditions.

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