During the summer, Oxfam's Trade Policy team analysed the EU's new proposals on EPAs (Economic Partnership Agreements).

We are concerned that the texts produced for all the African, Carribean, and Pacific (ACP) regions will undermine the ability of ACP countries to govern their economies effectively, and to protect the livelihoods of their poorest people. The EU is making requests that would impose far-reaching rules that would be hard to reverse.

The EU's proposed texts would:

• Request ACP countries to reduce their tariffs, opening up their markets to the EU's subsidised agricultural products and more competitive manufactured goods, thereby undermining the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and development of nascent industries;

• Introduce new regulations that would make it more difficult for ACP countries to support local companies and grow their economies;

• Restrict the right of ACP farmers to save, re-use, exchange, and sell the seeds they produce, making them more dependent on global multinationals for their food security and threatening agricultural biodiversity;

• Lead to a long-term loss in government revenue and be difficult and cumbersome to implement, placing a burden on governments that already struggle to pay for basic education and health services.

The European Commission is increasing the pressure on ACP countries to sign, but many regions are resisting the proposals; the EU had hoped to have a deal signed with the Caribbean region by October, but this is now looking highly unlikely, as negotiators have fallen out over tariffs. Negotiations with the other regions have similarly stalled.