EC/Pacific States Interim Partnership Agreement: accession of Niue

The European Parliament adopted by 543 votes to 77, with 31 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the accession of Niue to the Interim Partnership Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Pacific States, of the other part.

Parliament gave its consent to the accession of Niue to the Agreement.

Niue benefits from standard Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) arrangement that grants it duty elimination or reductions for about 66% of all EU tariff lines. In order to benefit from full duty-free-quota-free access to the EU market and the wider opportunities of the Agreement, Niue would need to accede to the interim EPA between the EU and the Pacific States.

The interim EPA is a development-oriented trade agreement, which offers asymmetric market access to Niue and allows it to shield sensitive sectors from liberalisation, while providing a large number of safeguards and a clause for infant industry protection.

In particular, the interim EPA:

- contains the rules of origin that facilitate Niue’s exports into the EU;

- establishes the conditions for EU economic operators to take full advantage of the opportunities between the respective economies;

- establishes a set of disciplines in the areas of sustainable development; Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT); and Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary measures (SPS), among others.