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Has South Africa been handed a poisoned chalice? Assessing the legal implications of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for South Africa's trade policy
AGOA is a US trade policy which defines and underpins the trade and investment relations between the US and sub-Saharan Africa. Essentially, AGOA extends duty free treatment to exports from eligible sub Saharan African countries. These preferences are aimed at promoting sub-Saharan African export...
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University of Pretoria
2017
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| _version_ | 1867613599059410944 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Soyeju, Olufemi Olugbemiga |
| author_browse | Soyeju, Olufemi Olugbemiga |
| author_facet | Soyeju, Olufemi Olugbemiga |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2016 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | AGOA is a US trade policy which defines and underpins the trade and investment relations between the US
and sub-Saharan Africa. Essentially, AGOA extends duty free treatment to exports from eligible sub Saharan
African countries. These preferences are aimed at promoting sub-Saharan African export earnings and
stimulating their economic growth by giving them improved access to the US market. South Africa is one the
few sub-Saharan African countries with a high utilization rate of the AGOA preferences, and has substantially
benefited from AGOA. However, in order to ensure compliance with the eligibility requirements, an eligible
sub-Saharan African country is subjected to constant, on-going surveillance and monitoring through the out of
cycle review mechanism. Importantly, the US President has the prerogative to determine whether a sub-
Saharan African country is eligible or remains eligible for the AGOA preferential treatment.
The strict eligibility requirements and out of cycle review mechanism as well as the unilateral nature of
AGOA deprive it of the necessary stability, certainty and predictability. Importantly, the out of cycle review
mechanism has a chilling effect on trade policies of eligible sub-Saharan African countries. This is particularly
true in respect of South Africa, whose trade policy is the primary subject of the study. Notwithstanding the
economic benefits, the disadvantages and or risks associated with AGOA overwhelm same. The disadvantages
and or risks are amply demonstrated by the recent development in which South Africa was compelled to
remove Anti-Dumping duties and Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary measures it had validly imposed on US poultry
in return for retaining AGOA preferences. Consequently, it is contended that AGOA is not a non-reciprocal
preferential scheme that it purports to be. Instead, it is de facto reciprocal or has reverse preferences embedded
in it. This study therefore argues that South Africa is entitled to impose Anti-Dumping duties and the Sanitary
and Phyo-Sanitary measures, provided that specific requirements are met and that the measures imposed by
South Africa on US poultry are legal under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and the
WTO law as long as the procedural and substantive requirements have been fulfilled. Consequently, the
consistency thereof can only be tested using the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Further, the study
highlights the implications of removing the above-mentioned measures for South Africa's trade policy and
explores various alternative trade arrangements which South Africa and other sub-Saharan African countries
may pursue in order to ensure or secure a stable, transparent, reciprocal trade relation with the US. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/58729 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:38:42.081Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/58729 Has South Africa been handed a poisoned chalice? Assessing the legal implications of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for South Africa's trade policy Soyeju, Olufemi Olugbemiga advocatemafu@gmail.com Mafu, Michael UCTD Growth and Opportunity Act trade policy trade and investment SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions Law theses SDG-16 AGOA is a US trade policy which defines and underpins the trade and investment relations between the US and sub-Saharan Africa. Essentially, AGOA extends duty free treatment to exports from eligible sub Saharan African countries. These preferences are aimed at promoting sub-Saharan African export earnings and stimulating their economic growth by giving them improved access to the US market. South Africa is one the few sub-Saharan African countries with a high utilization rate of the AGOA preferences, and has substantially benefited from AGOA. However, in order to ensure compliance with the eligibility requirements, an eligible sub-Saharan African country is subjected to constant, on-going surveillance and monitoring through the out of cycle review mechanism. Importantly, the US President has the prerogative to determine whether a sub- Saharan African country is eligible or remains eligible for the AGOA preferential treatment. The strict eligibility requirements and out of cycle review mechanism as well as the unilateral nature of AGOA deprive it of the necessary stability, certainty and predictability. Importantly, the out of cycle review mechanism has a chilling effect on trade policies of eligible sub-Saharan African countries. This is particularly true in respect of South Africa, whose trade policy is the primary subject of the study. Notwithstanding the economic benefits, the disadvantages and or risks associated with AGOA overwhelm same. The disadvantages and or risks are amply demonstrated by the recent development in which South Africa was compelled to remove Anti-Dumping duties and Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary measures it had validly imposed on US poultry in return for retaining AGOA preferences. Consequently, it is contended that AGOA is not a non-reciprocal preferential scheme that it purports to be. Instead, it is de facto reciprocal or has reverse preferences embedded in it. This study therefore argues that South Africa is entitled to impose Anti-Dumping duties and the Sanitary and Phyo-Sanitary measures, provided that specific requirements are met and that the measures imposed by South Africa on US poultry are legal under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and the WTO law as long as the procedural and substantive requirements have been fulfilled. Consequently, the consistency thereof can only be tested using the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Further, the study highlights the implications of removing the above-mentioned measures for South Africa's trade policy and explores various alternative trade arrangements which South Africa and other sub-Saharan African countries may pursue in order to ensure or secure a stable, transparent, reciprocal trade relation with the US. tm2017 Centre for Human Rights LLM Unrestricted 2017-01-31T12:47:54Z 2017-01-31T12:47:54Z 2016 Mini Dissertation Mafu, M 2016, Has South Africa been handed a poisoned chalice? Assessing the legal implications of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for South Africa's trade policy, LLM Mini Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/58729> D2016 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/58729 en © 2016 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Growth and Opportunity Act trade policy trade and investment SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions Law theses SDG-16 Has South Africa been handed a poisoned chalice? Assessing the legal implications of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for South Africa's trade policy |
| title | Has South Africa been handed a poisoned chalice? Assessing the legal implications of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for South Africa's trade policy |
| title_full | Has South Africa been handed a poisoned chalice? Assessing the legal implications of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for South Africa's trade policy |
| title_fullStr | Has South Africa been handed a poisoned chalice? Assessing the legal implications of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for South Africa's trade policy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Has South Africa been handed a poisoned chalice? Assessing the legal implications of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for South Africa's trade policy |
| title_short | Has South Africa been handed a poisoned chalice? Assessing the legal implications of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for South Africa's trade policy |
| title_sort | has south africa been handed a poisoned chalice assessing the legal implications of the african growth and opportunity act agoa for south africa s trade policy |
| topic | UCTD Growth and Opportunity Act trade policy trade and investment SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions Law theses SDG-16 |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/58729 |