At the request of the EU, SA agreed to negotiate an agreement on wines and spirits and a fisheries agreement. However, it insisted that such agreements should be beneficial to both parties and that there should be no conditional link with the main agreement. The main agreement contains a so-called “hook” clause, which provides for future negotiations for a fisheries cooperation agreement, and there is also a cover letter covering the political agreement on port and sherry. With regard to the accumulation under the Lomé Convention – that is, trade to SA to all ACP countries to the EU – the EU has committed to repeal the current ad hoc regime with regard to SA and to replace it with a diagonal accumulation by SA. This means that ACP countries, including BLNS, will be able to combine with materials that have acquired their original SA status. To avoid trade disruptions, South African Customs Union countries have reached an agreement with the UK in 2017. The countries of the Customs Union are South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini , as well as Mozambique (SACUM). In principle, the draft principle is to transfer sacum and the United Kingdom into a new bilateral trade agreement of the provisions of the EU-SADC EPA. The roll-over should ensure the continuity of trade relations after the UK`s shutdown in the EU. Since the UK has decided to leave the EU, this means that it will no longer be part of the EU-SADC EPA. This in turn implies that trade between the CDAA countries and the United Kingdom would no longer benefit from the preferential conditions that existed under the EPO`s EU-SADC. The EU has put its SA under pressure because of a fisheries agreement that provides access to SA resources. It therefore linked the fisheries agreement to market access concessions and the comprehensive agreement.
The adopted text recognizes that it is in the interests of both parties to ensure that public aid is granted in a fair and transparent manner. It also takes into account the facilitation role that can be played by public assistance and participation in the restructuring of the industry and economy in SA. It therefore provides for consultations between the parties in order to find a satisfactory solution to situations in which public aid distorts fair competition. Rules of origin are the backbone of a preferential trade agreement, as SA is about to sign with the EU. These rules prohibit the diversion of trade and thus protect the integrity of the agreement. The protocol will therefore define the administrative framework for the agreement between SA and the EU.