EPA SADC - Southern African Development Community

The EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) makes it easier for people and businesses from the two regions to invest in and trade with each other, and to spur development across Southern Africa. Learn how the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreement with five SADC states can benefit your trade.

The agreement at a glance

The EU - Southern African Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) states comprising Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) signed the SADC EPA agreement on 10 June 2016. The EPA came provisionally into force as of 10 October 2016, with Mozambique provisionally applying it since 4 February 2018.

The SADC EPA is a development-focused trade agreement, granting asymmetric access to the partners in the SADC EPA group. They can shield sensitive products from full liberalisation and deploy safeguards when imports from the EU are growing too quickly. A chapter on cooperation identifies trade-related areas that can benefit from funding. The agreement also contains a chapter on sustainable development, which covers social and environmental matters.

In terms of trade in goods, the new market access includes better trading terms mainly in agriculture and fisheries, including for wine, sugar, fisheries products, flowers and canned fruits. On its side, the EU will obtain meaningful new market access into the Southern African Customs Union (products include wheat, barley, cheese, meat products and butter).

Benefiting countries

The other six members of the Southern African Development Community region – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are part of or negotiating EPAs with the EU as part of other regional groups, namely Central Africa or Eastern and Southern Africa.

Asymmetric provisions in favour of SADC countries

The EPA foresees asymmetric provisions in favour of SADC EPA countries, such as the exclusion of sensitive products from liberalisation, flexible rules of origin, in addition to special safeguards and measures for agriculture, food products and infant industries

Tariffs

Use the search option of My Trade Assistant to find the exact information on duties and tariffs for your specific product, taking into consideration its country of origin and destination. If in doubt, contact your customs authorities

Rules of origin

In order to qualify for preferential treatment, your product will need to satisfy the rules of origin under the agreement. Please check the “Rules of Origin Self Assessment tool (ROSA)” in My Trade Assistant to assess whether your product fulfils the rules of origin and find out how to prepare the correct documents.

General information about the rules of origin and the origin procedures can be found in this section.

Origin is the 'economic nationality' of traded goods. If you are new to the topic, you can find an introduction to the main concepts in the goods section.

Rules of origin

In order to qualify for preferential treatment, your product will need to satisfy the rules of origin under the agreement. Please check the interactive “Rules of Origin Self Assessment tool (ROSA)” in My Trade Assistant to assess whether your product fulfils the rules of origin and find out how to prepare the correct documents.

General information about the rules of origin is available below.

Where can I find the rules of origin?

Does my product originate in the EU or an SADC EPA state?

For your product to qualify for the lower or zero preferential tariff under the EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement a product must originate in the EU or an SADC EPA state.

A product is considered originating in the EU or in an SADC EPA state, if it is

The product also needs to fulfil all other applicable requirements specified in the Chapter (for example insufficient working or processing, the non-alteration rule). There are also some additional flexibilities to help you comply with product specific rules (for example tolerance or cumulation).

Examples of product specific rules in EU Trade Agreements

Tips to help you comply with the product specific rules

The agreement provides additional flexibility helping you to comply with product specific rules, such as tolerance or cumulation.

Tolerance
Cumulation

The EU-SADC Economic Partnership agreement provides for