RESEARCH SEMINAR: EU and ACP EPAs: Regional Integration Booster or Potential Hindrance? A Legal Analysis - Maurice Pascal Nzumbu Lo Ambetima

Since the birth of the multilateral trading system, the European Union (EU) has made its contribution to promoting the paradigm of trade on a global scale. 

In this respect, Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are a form of free trade agreement that the EU negotiates with the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACPS) with the purpose to “[..] contribute through trade to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction [..]”.  

Over the course of the seminar, we question whether the conclusion of these EPAs may have an impact or not on the regional integration processes of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States – keeping into account the presence of larger continental entities, like the African Union, and the imminent signature of the so-called Post-Cotonou Agreement. In terms of legal research, this emerges from an analysis of conflicts of jurisdiction, incompatibilities and overlapping regulation between the EPAs and the existing Regional Economic Communities of the ACPS. To this end, we focus on the case of the Caribbean Community.  

To conclude, an overall assessment of the compliance between the WTO regulation and the EPAs regime will be made. 

Maurice Pascal Nzumbu Lo Ambetima
UNU-CRIS Visiting Research Fellow

Wednesday, 5 October 2022

11.00 - 12.30

Please register below before 2 October 2022 23:59 CET

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