WTO | Regional trade agreements

EU - SADC

Basic InformationWTO Consideration ProcessRTA ProvisionsTrade-related data

Agreement name:	EU - SADC
Coverage:	Goods	Type:	Free Trade Agreement
Status:	In Force	Notification under:	GATT Art. XXIV
Date of signature:	10-Jun-2016	Date of notification:	03-Apr-2017
Date of entry into force:	10-Oct-2016	End of implementation period:	2028
Remarks:	Official Journal of the European Union: L 250 of 16-Sept-2016. The Agreement has been provisionally applied between Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Eswatini on the one hand and the EU on the other hand as from 10-Oct-2016. On 16-Jan-2018, Mozambique expressed its concurrence to the ratification of the agreement by letter addressed to the Council of the European Union. The Agreement will be provisionally applied between Mozambique, on the one hand, and the EU on the other hand as from 04-Feb-2018. The Agreement will enter into force after it has been ratified by all the Parties. The United Kingdom was a Member State of the European Union until 31 January 2020. The European Union and the United Kingdom have agreed a Withdrawal Agreement pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which provides for a time-limited transition period during which European Union law, with limited exceptions as provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement will apply to and in the United Kingdom. Further details are available in the communication from the United Kingdom (WT/GC/206) dated 1 February 2020 and the note verbal from the European Union (WT/LET/1462) dated 27 January 2020 notifying WTO members that the United Kingdom is treated as a member State of the European Union for the purposes of relevant international agreements for the duration of the transition period.
Current signatories:	Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Botswana; Eswatini; Lesotho; Mozambique; Namibia; South Africa
Original signatories:	Austria; Belgium; Botswana; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Eswatini; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lesotho; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Mozambique; Namibia; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; United Kingdom
RTA Composition:	Plurilateral; One Party is an RTA
Region:	Europe; Africa
All Parties WTO members?	Yes	Cross-Regional:	Yes

Related agreements

EU Treaty

Official Web Address

European Commission

Text of the agreement

Text of the agreement	E F S

Annexes & related documents

Annexes	E F S

Consideration status:

Factual Presentation issued

Date of Consideration

18-Nov-2020

Early announcement

Remarks:	The EU would like to inform the WTO Members that on 15 July 2014 it has initialled an Economic Partnership Agreement with 6 Southern African States (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique and Swaziland).

Related documents

Document series: WT/REG/381

Document type	Symbol	Language
Notification	WT/REG381/N/1	E F S
Notification / Addendum	WT/REG381/N/1/Add.1	E F S
Factual Presentation	WT/REG381/1/Rev.1	E F S
Questions and Replies	WT/REG381/2	E F S
Note on the Meeting of the CRTA	WT/REG381/M/1	E F S
Notification / Inactive Agreements	WT/REG/GEN/N/10	E F S

Document type	Language
Factual Presentation (G)	E F S

RTA Provisions Glossary

For details on these provisions, please consult the Glossary.

Last modified on: 14/05/2019

Topics
	Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ)
	All quantitative import restrictions prohibited
	Rules of Origin (RoO)
		Change of Tariff Classification Criteria (CTC)
		Regional Value Content Criteria (RVC)
		Other Criteria(s)
		De minimis rules
		Outward-processing allowed
		Cumulation among Parties
		Cumulation with non-Parties permitted
	All Export restrictions, including quantitative restrictions, prohibited
	Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO SPS Agreement
		Transparency obligations (SPS)
	Technical regulations, standards, technical barriers to trade (TBT)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO TBT Agreement
		Transparency obligations (TBT)
	Safeguard Mechanisms (Goods)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Safeguard Agreement
		Exclusion of an RTA party in global safeguard action
		RTA-specific safeguard measures always permitted
		Special safeguard in Agriculture
		Other Special safeguards
	Balance-of-payments measures (Goods)
	Anti-Dumping measures
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Agreement on Anti-Dumping
		Dispute Settlement not applicable (Anti-Dumping measures)
	Countervailing measures
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing measures
		Dispute Settlement not applicable (Countervailing measures)
	Subsidies (Goods)
		Prohibition of agricultural export subsidies
	MFN Clause/Preferences extended from other RTAs (Goods)
	Sector-specific chapter/section or other legal instrument (Goods)


	Rendez-Vous/Review/Evolutionary clause (services)
	Rendez-Vous clause (Investment)
	General Exceptions
	Security Exceptions
	Accession
		Accession open to some third parties only
	Dispute Settlement (DS)
		Ad hoc Adjudicative Process
		Choice of forum
		Exclusive use of forum chosen
	Government procurement
	Intellectual property rights
		Geographical Indications (GIs)
		Traditional Knowledge
		Enforcement
	Competition
	Environment
		No relaxation of environmental laws
	Labour
		No relaxation of labour laws
	Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
		Cooperation

Document title
Botswana-EU
EU-Botswana
EU-Lesotho
Lesotho-EU
EU-Mozambique
EU-Namibia
EU-Eswatini
Eswatini-EU
EU-South Africa
South Africa-EU
Namibia-EU

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