EU Proposes New GSP Conditions With Renewed Focus on Sustainable Development
The European Union added environmental and good governance conditions to its Generalized Scheme of Preferences reform proposal as factors that could lead to the suspension of the GSP for low-income countries, the European Commission said. The change is one of many in the proposal.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Other elements of the new GSP scheme include: (1) allowing countries to apply for a special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance, (2) lowering product graduation thresholds -- the temporary suspension of tariff preferences for highly competitive products -- by 10%, (3) adding two more human rights conventions, two labor rights instruments and one governance clause to the qualification requirements for GSP eligibility, and (4) “[s]etting up a well-defined framework for the current GSP+ beneficiaries to adapt to the new requirements,” the commission said.
The renewed GSP would bolster environmental commitments from GSP countries by allowing for the withdrawal of GSP benefits for violations of the convention on climate change and environmental protection and extending the list of environmental requirements that GSP+ countries must ratify beyond the current seven, which include the Paris Agreement, the commission said. The current GSP terms will expire Dec. 31, 2023, and the new GSP terms would run from 2024 to 2034.
“For five decades, the EU GSP has supported vulnerable countries to grow in a sustainable manner by giving them preferential access to the EU market,” EU Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said. “This has helped beneficiary countries to diversify their economies and create jobs. It has also galvanised beneficiary countries into improving human and labour rights, the environment and good governance. Today we are revamping the GSP so that it continues to offer generous trade preferences while spurring more positive change in beneficiary countries.”