Economic Association Agreement with EU Goes Into Effect

Economic Association Agreement with EU Goes Into Effect

The Dominican government announced on Tuesday that the Economic Association Agreement, signed by 15 Caribbean countries including the Dominican Republic and the European Commission is in effect and will allow the exportation of various agricultural and industrial products to Europe free of customs taxes.

The Secretary of State for Foreign Relations, Carlos Morales Troncoso, made the announcement at a press conference in the Orlando Martínez Hall of the National Palace. The engineer said the agreement was the biggest ever signed by the Dominican Republic in economic terms, according to a press release from the Presidential Information, Press and Publicity Office.

Morales said the DR will be able to export sugar, bananas, rum, tobacco and rice to Europe free of customs duties starting on January 1, 2008 when the agreement goes into effect.

“The Economic Association Agreement is the most modern instrument yet negotiated and all of its content is new; they cover commercial goods, services and investments as well as issues related to commerce and the resolution of differences,” explained the Secretary of State.

Main principles

Morales Troncoso enumerated the main principles of the Economic Association Agreement, indicating that it is the first to replace intellectual property for the promotion of innovation as well as the first in which a group of developed countries have totally lifted their importation duties.

As such:

• This is the first of its kind in which a group of developed countries have totally lifted their importation duties.
  
• This is the first genuine asymmetric agreement that excludes the free trade or liberalization for up to 25 years of imported products that are native to the Caribbean.
  
• This is the first to permit the use of natural resources from anywhere in the world for the production of clothing.
  
• This is the first to permit the use of natural resources from neighboring countries to be used in manufacturing industrial products such as shoes or medicine for export to Europe.
  
• This is the first to prohibit and repress corruption, disrespect for labor and environmental standards on the part of investors.
  
• This is the first to include rules and regulations about tourism.
  
• This is the first to apply, in a practical manner, the UNESCO convention for the promotion and protection of cultural diversity and its manifestations through a generous protocol on cultural cooperation.
  
• This is the first to require all Caribbean countries to agree amongst themselves what they will offer to Europe, which will finally provide the true Caribbean integration that since 1998 had not yet been achieved.
  
• This is the first that allows an 8-year period of safeguarding commercial interests.
  
• This is the first in which a group of developed countries has liberalized the free movement of people, opening up of markets, without quotas, for doctors, nurses, lawyers, consultants and others from the Caribbean who provide services.

The agreement will permit the Dominican exporter to sell without quotas, customs taxes or discriminatory barriers in a larger market and one with larger buying power.

Morales Troncoso was referring to the 480 million European consumers from 27 countries who “can now acquire our products and consume our services.” He said the Economic Association Agreement will now go through a process of legal revision prior to its formal signing in Barbados on March 15, 2008. He added that the European Commission will provisionally apply the agreement beginning on January 1, 2008 and that the Caribbean countries will begin to apply it on April 15, 2008. Mr. Morales Troncoso added that this is also the first time that Haiti will be involved in a free trade relationship with the Dominican Republic in which laws, backed by the World Trade Organization, will govern any potential controversies