The International Cocoa Council adopts the Amended International Cocoa Agreement, 2010

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 30 september 2022, The International Cocoa Council, at its 106th regular session held from 27 – 29 September 2022, adopted the amended International Cocoa Agreement (ICA), 2010 and commits it to all the contracting parties to the Agreement for their acceptance of the amendments.

The amended ICA, 2010, which is a culmination of the review of the implementation of the current Agreement and the need for it to be more forward-looking and better adapted to meet current challenges facing the world cocoa economy, includes some major changes as follows:

  1. An indefinite duration of the Agreement (subject to review every five years), to bring more stability and sustainability to initiatives implemented under the Agreement.
  2. Realignment of the provisions of the Agreement with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure an accelerated development of the world cocoa economy.
  3. Introduction of a key objective in the Agreement with respect to achieving a living income for cocoa farmers and a reference to remunerative prices to reach economic sustainability.
  4. Three new articles outlining specific measures to be carried out under the economic, social, and environmental pillars of sustainability.
  5. Reinvigorating attention on value addition, premium quality, and food safety.
  6. Supporting research and innovation in the cocoa value chain and expanding cooperation with more donor agencies for financing of cocoa development projects.

With the above-mentioned and other changes, the amended ICA, 2010 is now more suitable to address emerging challenges in the world cocoa economy and a veritable tool for the development of national cocoa sectors.

The contracting parties to the ICA, 2010 must now complete their internal procedures to prepare and deposit a letter of notification of their acceptance of the amended Agreement with the Secretary-General of the United Nations in his capacity as the Depository of the Agreement.

Once the required number of exporting and importing Member countries of the Organization have accepted the amendments, the amended ICA, 2010 is expected to become effective by 1 October 2024.