The European Union and Morocco have agreed to alter a trade deal to cover imports from the disputed Western Sahara region, Brussels said on Monday.
The move comes after the EU’s top court last year ordered the farm produce agreement to be scrapped after a challenge from Western Saharan independence movement the Polisario Front.
The new deal means that goods coming from the region will now have to clearly specify their origin to receive preferential tariffs.
In its 2024 judgement, the ECJ said product labels “must indicate Western Sahara alone as the country of origin of those goods, to the exclusion of any reference to Morocco, so as to avoid misleading consumers as to the true origin of those goods”.
Morocco, an important trading partner with the 27-nation EU, views the Western Sahara as an integral part of its territory.
But Polisario — recognised internationally as the representative of the Sahrawi people — has for decades sought self-determination for the former Spanish colony, which has been in Moroccan control since 1975.
“This agreement reinforces the long-standing partnership between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco,” the EU said in a statement.
“Over the years, the European Union and Morocco have established a profound friendship and a solid and multi-faceted cooperation.”
Brussels said the deal had already gone into force provisionally but would need to be confirmed definitively by EU states and the European Parliament.
del/ec/gil
© Agence France-Presse
