The CARIFORUM Sample Clauses

The CARIFORUM. EU Trade and Development Committee may amend the list of arbitrators annexed to this Decision.

The CARIFORUM. EU EPA in a nutshell The EPA is the trade and development partnership signed in 2008 by the 15 states of CARIFORUM and the EU's 28 countries. Our goals are simple: to make it easier for people and businesses from our two regions to invest in and trade with each other, and to spur development across the Caribbean. As such, the agreement does four important things. Firstly, the EPA creates a more equal partnership. Ever since the EU's inception in 1958, the rules governing trade between our two regions had meant only the Caribbean enjoyed preferential access to the EU. The Caribbean didn’t have to open its market in any way to the EU. Now, both sides now have obligations as well as rights - as in any free trade agreement. Each region opens its market to the other, and reaps the benefits. However, the EPA also reflects our two regions' stages of development. It does so by being 'asymmetric'. In other words, the agreement requires the EU to go much further than the Caribbean. It also makes much lighter demands on Caribbean states than standard free trade agreements. In fact, the EU offers Caribbean states 100% duty- and quota-free access for all goods from day one. But Caribbean states have up to 25 years (until 2033) to cut import tariffs. They have excluded from these cuts around 17% of goods and services which they consider sensitive. And they can respond if EU imports suddenly surge and threaten local production. In addition, the EPA covers trade in its widest sense. Before, the rules governing Caribbean- EU trade had been mostly limited to goods. Now, the EPA covers trade not just in goods, but also in services. It also covers other areas where rules and regulations can hinder trade: competition, innovation and intellectual property, public procurement, and environmental and labour standards. Finally, the EPA supports the region's integration process. In fact, this process is the very basis of the EPA. In the accord, CARIFORUM states have committed to offering each other the same preferences they give the EU. And between 2014 and 2020 the EU is providing over €346 million to several region-wide bodies. These bodies will help the region to implement the EPA and thereby to export more and to attract more investment from overseas. Countries which are part of the CARIFORUM-EU EPA CARIFORUM (15) EU (28) Antigua and Barbuda Austria Bahamas Belgium Barbados Bulgaria Belize Cyprus Dominica Czech Republic Dominican Republic Denmark Grenada Estonia Guyana Finland H...