Geneva banana deal enters into force
03 July 2010
On 31 May 2010, the Geneva banana agreement entered into force following the signing of the agreement by the parties concerned. The first reduction to €148/tonne is now officially backdated to 15 December 2009. Traders who paid the €174/tonne duty can now reclaim €28/tonne on imports since 15 December 2010. It looks likely that these repayments will exclusively benefit EU importers. Nevertheless press reports suggest that Ecuadorian banana exports to the EU will increase in response to the tariff changes.
The additional tariff reductions included in the agreements with Colombia and Peru and five central American countries are limited to a maximum volume of banana exports, although in some instances these ‘quotas’ are ‘considerably higher than currently traded volumes’.
Editorial comment
It is perhaps noteworthy that ACP banana exporters were not a party to the signing of the agreement, despite the direct impact which this agreement and the recently concluded free-trade area (FTA) agreements have on the margins of tariff preference which ACP suppliers enjoy. This is leading to ACP calls for more effective operationalisation of the EU’s commitments on consultations with the ACP prior to the introduction of any trade policy changes which impact on the value of traditional ACP trade preferences.
