EC/Pacific States Interim Partnership Agreement: accession of Tuvalu

The European Parliament adopted by 533 votes to 74, with 26 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the accession of Tuvalu 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 Tuvalu to the Agreement.

Tuvalu will lose the EU's Everything-But-Arms (EBA) preferences soon as it is expected to graduate from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) status in 2024.

In order to support its transition and to maintain full duty-free-quota-free access to the EU market, it will be beneficial for Tuvalu to accede to the interim EPA between the EU and the Pacific States (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Solomon Islands).

The interim EPA is a development-oriented trade agreement, which offers asymmetric market access to Tuvalu 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 Tuvalu’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.