The Committee on International Trade adopted the report drawn up by David MARTIN (PES, UK) recommending that the European Parliament give its assent to the conclusion of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the CARIFORUM States, on the other part.
MEPs draw attention to a certain number of issues on which they would like to receive a firm commitment from the Commission and the Council. Among these issues, MEPs insist on a mandatory comprehensive review of the Agreement to be undertaken not later than five years after the date of signature and at subsequent five-yearly intervals, in order to determine the impact of the Agreement, including the costs and consequences of implementation.
They also call for : (i) an independent monitoring mechanism to be established within the CARIFORUM States endowed with the necessary resources to undertake the analysis necessary to determining the extent to which the EPA is achieving its objectives; (ii) clarifications on which funds are additional to the funding of the 10th EDF; (iii) the funds provided for an equitable share of the Aid for Trade resources to be considered as additional resources and not merely repackaging of EDF funding and their disbursement to be timely, predictable and in harmony with the execution schedules of national and regional strategic development plans; (iv) provisions regarding enforcement of intellectual property rights not be used to thwart legitimate competition from generic pharmaceutical suppliers, and/or to inhibit government purchasing entities from acquiring generic supplies.
Lastly, MEPs call on the European Union to apply the most favoured nation principle (MFN) among all the ACP sub-regional groups of the ACP countries. They also call for the elimination of the application of MFN treatment to the European Union by CARIFORUM and other sub-regional groups.