South Africa trade deal enters force despite squabbles

Date: 06/01/2000

By Gareth Harding

THE long-awaited free trade accord between the EU and South Africa finally entered into force earlier this week, despite continued squabbling among Union member states about the wine and spirits part of the deal.

Brussels and Pretoria signed a pact in October which aims to liberalise more than 90% of trade between the two over the next decade.

But southern EU countries had threatened to delay implementation of the accord because of concerns about South African wine and spirits flooding European markets.

Spain and Portugal have demanded cast-iron assurances from Pretoria that it will phase out use of the terms 'port' and 'sherry' within 12 years in return for setting a 32 million litres duty-free quota for imports of South African wine into the Union. In addition, Italy and France have been seeking to ring-fence the use of terms such as grappa and grand cru.

At a meeting on 17 December, EU ambassadors overcame opposition to the overall agreement from southern member states, allowing trade barriers in most areas to start coming down as planned. However, the wine and spirits part of the deal remains on ice as the so-called 'Club Med' countries hold out for further concessions from Pretoria.

The long-awaited free trade accord between the EU and South Africa has finally entered into force, despite continued squabbling among Union Member States about the wine and spirits part of the deal.