EC/South Africa agreement: additional protocol to the Agreement on trade, development and cooperation following the 2004 enlargement of the Union

PURPOSE: To conclude a Protocol between the EU and South Africa regarding the Agreement on Trade Development and Co-operation (TDCA) vis-à-vis the accession of the ten new Member States.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

CONTENT: This Decision is being proposed within the context of the May 2004 EU enlargement. With the accession of ten new Member States it has become necessary for the Commission to re-negotiate the EU’s Protocol governing its Agreement on Trade, Development and Co-operation (TDCA) with South Africa. Although, a provisional Protocol was signed in Pretoria in June 2005, this proposal is for a Council Decision concluding the Protocol.

The Additional Protocol provides for the necessary technical adaptations of the TDCA following on from the accession of the new countries. They refer, in particular, to the following elements:

- On the matter of institutional provisions, the Protocol includes a number of necessary changes arising from the accession of the new Member States as well as including an increase in the number of official languages.

- On the matter of trade provisions, the revised TDCA allows for trade liberalisation between the EU and the Republic of South Africa, which in some cases, is limited to tariff quotas. These tariff quotas have been reviewed on the basis of traditional trade between the new Member States, on the one hand, and the Republic of South Africa, on the other. The Additional Protocol makes adjustments to these where required.

- On the matter of rules of origin, the multi-lingual provisions in Protocol 1 to the TDCA on the concept of ‘originating products’ and methods of administrative co-operation have been amended to include the languages of the new Member States.