U and Morocco tweak trade deal covering W. Sahara

AFP | Brussels

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The European Union and Morocco have agreed to alter a trade deal to cover imports from the disputed Western Sahara region, Brussels said yesterday.

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.