Why ask ACP regions to liberalise their tariffs?
Need to comply with WTO rules on non-discrimination. The EC will negotiate the tariff reductions necessary for a WTO compatible Free Trade Agreement but this has to be on the basis of mutual agreement, not EU imposition. ACP countries and the EU have already agreed to revamp their trade relations and progressively remove barriers to trade between them. This is necessary to stop ACP marginalisation and contribute to ACP growth and poverty eradication. It is also a prerequisite if ACP-EU trade relations are to be legally secure by being compatible with the World Trade Organisation rules on non-discrimination. Obtaining market access to ACP is not an EU interest. The backdrop of this is that most of ACP exports to the EU already enter into Europe at zero tariff duty under a preferential treatment. EU products exported into the ACP, on the other hand, do not benefit from the same treatment. Obtaining such access to ACP markets is not an EU interest; the EU seeks only the treatment necessar
