Vicente Garnelo
Table
3
Economic Complementation Agreements Applying to the Automotive Sector PSA.ECs* (ECAs) N°
Signatory countries
Date of original Protocol and no of additional Protocols**
1
Argentina/Uruguay (CAUCE)
12-20-82 (28)
Not in force. Replaced by ECA 57.
2
Brazil/Uruguay (PEC)
12-20-82 (68)
In force. Extendable duration of 6 years.
14
Argentina/Brazil
12-20-90 (39)
In force. Indefinite duration.
55
Argentina/Brazil/Mexico/ Paraguay/Uruguay
9-27-02 (7)
In force. Exclusively automotive To be replaced when MERCOSUR-Mexico FTA is defined.
57
Argentina/Uruguay
3-31-03 (2)
In force. Exclusively automotive (until MERCOSUR regime is established).
Duration/Current situation and Observations
Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (IDB-INTAL). All rights reserved.
Notes: (*) Parcial Scope Agreement - Economic Complementation. (**) Includes date the original Protocol was signed and, in brackets, the number of Additional Protocols.
32
Source: LAIA (http://www.aladi.org).
Since July 1993 (17th Additional Protocol), it has almost exclusively contained provisions relating to the administered trade regime of the automotive sector between the two countries. The 68th and last Protocol to this ECA established an “Agreement” with similar characteristics to the one between Argentina and Brazil (ECA 14), which will also be in force until mid 2014, or until a MERCOSUR common policy is established for the sector.
ECA 56 established the regime linking individual MERCOSUR countries with Mexico, in response to the interest in corporate integration shown by certain automotive manufacturers based in the countries involved. Table 4 features statistics that demonstrate the importance of automotive agreements for exports, in this case from Argentina. We can see that Argentine exports from Chapter 87 alone (automotive vehicles, tractors and other terrestrial vehicles, and their parts and accessories) account for over 43% of total exports to Brazil and over 35% to Mexico in 2010. These results and those of previous years would not be possible without the preferences established in the corresponding agreements.11
ECA 14 shaped the Argentine-Brazilian integration process initiated prior to the creation of MERCOSUR. Once the latter was created (ECA 18), the Protocols of ECA 14 contained all the bilateral actions that the two countries did not wish to or were unable to frame under the regime of MERCOSUR. The 38th Additional Protocol established the “Agreement on Common Automotive Policy between the Argentine Republic and the Federative Republic of Brazil,” in force until 6/30/2014.10
All in all, the possibilities of replicating this network of preferential agreements that coordinate national and international corporate strategies in other sectors are far from remote. Designing administered trade regimes for other metallurgical industries (e.g. white line
10 Practically all the 39 Protocols to ECA 14 refer to this bilateral regime of sectoral administered trade, forming an integration of sorts within the MERCOSUR integration process itself.
11 The amount of sectoral exports and the percentage share of the totals would be far higher if the auto parts included in NALADISA Chapters 39, 40, 45, 73, 78, and 84 were added.