Regional court rules against EPA suit

The regional court refuses to grant an order restraining four partner states, including Tanzania, which have not signed the EAC-EU-EPA trade arrangement from penning the deal. FOTOSEARCH 

In Summary

• The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) on Thursday dismissed an application filed by a Tanzanian against the East African Community member states signing the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union (EU).
• Apart from Tanzania, three other countries which have declined to sign the EPA agreement are Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan.
• The court dismissed the application, stressing that there was no irreparable economic loss and serious violation of the EAC Treaty found. The applicant had sought the court order, which would bar states which have not inked the EPA deal not to do so.

By THE CITIZEN
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The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) on Thursday dismissed an application filed by a Tanzanian against the East African Community member states signing the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union (EU).

The regional court refused to grant an order restraining four partner states, including Tanzania, which have not signed the EAC-EU-EPA trade arrangement from penning the deal.

In the same manner, the court under the Deputy Principal Judge, Isaac Lenaola, failed to restrain Kenya and Rwanda, which had signed it, from continuing with the subsequent procedures.

The court also refused to direct the seventh respondent, the EAC, in an application filed by Castro Pius Shirima, to withdraw forthwith from any negotiations initiated with the EU.

READ: EA states looking outward for trading partners as local ties sour

Apart from Tanzania, three other countries which have declined to sign the EPA agreement are Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan.

Kenya and Rwanda signed the deal in September last year.

Mr Shirima had sought the court’s order that would bar the EAC member states and the secretary general of the community from signing the EPA deal on grounds that signing the agreement was in contravention of the EAC Treaty.

He further argued that the EAC bloc would suffer considerably by nodding to EPA, noting that agriculture - the backbone of the region’s economies - would be affected because EAC farmers would be exposed to unfair competition.

READ: EA to adopt new tax rules to protect region from cheap imports

Nevertheless, the court dismissed the application, stressing that there was no irreparable economic loss and serious violation of the EAC Treaty found. The applicant had sought the court order, which would bar states which have not inked the EPA deal not to do so.

“When pressed to expound on the irreparable economic loss and the violation of rights that the applicant stood to suffer, he was unable to make the link between the impugned signing of the EPA and the alleged irreparable harm that the said signing could cause”, the judge said.

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