The EU Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was ratified by the EU Parliament in 2009. At this stage, it covers trade in goods only. It provides duty-free and quota-free market access for Pacific exporters on all products. The Pacific parties are allowed to protect their sensitive products and industries by maintaining tariffs at the border. However, depending on how each Party member state negotiated its market access offer to the EU, there's a time period of 15 - 20 years to slowly reduce these tariffs to zero. There's also a unique market access provision called global sourcing on fisheries exports that is given only to the Pacific region. In a standard trade agreement, the two parties would restrict the sourcing of raw materials from third parties to promote the maximisation of the trade benefits or advantages between and among the parties themselves. However, in the EPA, the EU allows the Pacific parties to source raw fish from outside of the Pacific and EU countries, process them onshore and then export them to the EU duty-free and quota-free. The objective is to attract foreign investment into the Pacific parties to set up manufacturing and processing facilities, increase employment opportunities and improve livelihoods for Pacific families, increase tax revenues for governments to provide better public services, and grow the economy.

Click the link below to download a copy of the EU Pacific EPA.

There are four Pacific parties to the EPA. They are Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the Solomon Islands.Nine Pacific states have become observers to the EPA after formally notifying the EU of their intention to accede to the Agreement. They are Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Niue, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.A number of EPA observers have completed or are in the process of undertaking a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) managed by the SPIRIT project to facilitate and progress the sovereign national readiness processes leading to the formal notification to the EU on their accession to the EPA. Observers have also sought technical assistance on the review of their Market Access Offers (MAO) to facilitate their bilateral negotiations with the EU on their accession to the EPA. Whilst Naoero and Palau are neither iEPA parties, nor observers at this time, they benefit from national and regional activities funded under the EU-funded programmes and participate actively in related standing PACP meetings such as the PACP Trade Officials Meetings (PACPTOM), PACP Trade Ministers Meetings (PACPTMM) and PACP Leaders Meetings (PACPLM).The EU – Pacific EPA opens up trade in goods with the EU. The agreement includesduty-free and quota-free access to the EU market for all goods coming from EPA Pacific statesasymmetric and gradual opening of their markets to EU goods, taking full account of differences in levels of development and sensitive sectorsexclusion of some sensitive sectors and products from liberalization on the Pacific sidethe possibility of Pacific States to reintroduce duties and quotas if imports from the EU disturb or threaten to disturb their local economiesrules on technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phytosanitary measures to help Pacific exporters meet EU import standardsefficient customs procedures and enhanced co-operation between administrationsimproved rules of origin for processed fisheries products from the Pacific - the so-called "global sourcing" provision which is intended to boost job creation and development in the region.There are 27 member states in the European Union. AustriaBelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaNetherlandsPolandPortugalRomaniaSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSweden

There are currently four Pacific parties to the EPA. (i) Fiji(ii) Papua New Guinea(iii) Samoa(iv) Solomon IslandsAs of January 2026, nine Pacific states (Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Niue, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu) have become observers with their formal expression of intent to the European Union to accede to the EU Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement. Whilst Naoero and Palau are neither iEPA parties, nor observers at this time, they benefit from national and regional activities funded under the EU-funded programmes and participate actively in related standing PACP meetings such as the PACP Trade Officials Meetings (PACPTOM), PACP Trade Ministers Meetings (PACPTMM) and PACP Leaders Meetings (PACPLM).The SPIRIT project is working closely with the four parties to implement the EPA and realise the expected tangible trade and development related benefits of the Agreement. The SPIRIT project is also supporting the nine observers in their national preparedness processes to accede to the EPA. This includes conducting cost-benefit analyses and reviewing market access offers to the EU to support their domestic processes and bilateral negotiations with the EU as well as increasing awareness among government officials, the private sector or economic operators, and other non-state actors. Further, the observers' trade and investment laws need to reviewed and amended for realignment with the EPA, and where necessary, to ensure that these are fit for purpose for these countries to effectively trade under the EPA.SUMMARYThere are fifteen countries in the Pacific-ACP group.Pacific EPA PartiesFijiPapua New GuineaSamoaSolomon IslandsPacific EPA ObserversCook IslandsFederated States of MicronesiaKiribatiNiueRepublic of the Marshall IslandsTimor-LesteTongaTuvaluVanuatuOut of the 15 PACP States, 13 are IEPA parties and observers. The number of EPA Pacific parties is expected to increase from 4 to at least 11 within the next two years.

There are 27 member states in the European Union. Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden

There are fifteen countries in the Pacific-ACP group. Cook IslandsFederated States of MicronesiaFijiKiribatiNaoeroNiuePalauPapua New GuineaRepublic of the Marshall IslandsSamoaSolomon IslandsTimor-LesteTongaTuvaluVanuatu

The Pacific region is one of the three sub-regions of the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS), formerly the ACP, which was founded under the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. The partnership between the 79 members of the OACPS, on the one hand, and the 27 members of the EU, on the other, has its legal basis under the Samoa Agreement, revised from its Lome Conventions in the earlier years. The Samoa Agreement has been provisionally applied from January 2024 and aims to build on a transformative, modern partnership Agreement that will serve as a multilateral platform for political dialogue and economic and social cooperation. All 15 PACP states have signed the Samoa Agreement and at various stages of formal ratification and accession, as per their national domestic processes.The term, Pacific-ACP states (PACPS) is derived from this historic partnership in the context of its alliance with the other two sub-regions in the Caribbean and Africa under the OACPS and, more importantly, the OACPS' collective partnership with the EU under the Samoa Agreement.

For more information, please click the following links:SPIRIT Project: https://www.pacificeutrade.org/spiritproject (PIFS)SAFE Pacific Project: https://www.pacificeutrade.org/safeproject (SPC and PIFS)IMPACT Project: https://www.pacificeutrade.org/impactproject (UNCTAD)PEUMP Programme: https://www.pacificeutrade.org/peump https://peump.dev/home (SPC, FFA, USP, SPREP)FISH4ACP: https://www.fao.org/fish4acp/en (FAO)Upcoming programme (tentatively launched in early 2027):Pacific Trade and Sustainable Development (Pac-TSD) Programme (PIFS and ITC)