EU Council Greenlights Negotiating Mandate for New GSP Rules
A negotiating mandate from the European Council was agreed to on Dec. 20 by "EU member states' ambassadors" over the revised Generalized Scheme of Preferences regulation, which gives trade preferences to developing countries, the council announced. The new GSP largely upholds the "main features of the current system, but includes some improvements," including "stronger links" for human rights and the environment and improved monitoring and transparency of the scheme. A new link will be established between the trade preferences given to a country and their "cooperation on migration and the readmission of own nationals illegally present in the EU," the council said.
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The negotiating mandate, approved by the Council's Permanent Representatives Committee, will let the council president start negotiations with the European Parliament with the goal that the rules enter into force January 2024 -- when the old ones expire.
The new legislation is meant to promote sustainable development and good governance while working to eradicate poverty, the council said. In a bid to boost the GSP's "efficiency and effectiveness" to boost these goals, the European Council came up with changes to the GSP that were accepted by the council.
The new framework will extend "negative conditionality" to prevent beneficiaries from committing environmental, good governance and human rights violations; give transitional arrangements for current GSP+ beneficiaries; extend the GSP reporting period from two to three years; add new international agreements to the list; and make the preferences withdrawal process faster and more responsive "in cases of exceptionally serious violations." The commission would also consider the socioeconomic impact of the withdrawal when proposing a temporarily withdrawal of GSP preferences, among other things.
The council added its own changes to the commission's proposal, including an "enhanced engagement procedure," an "improved system for the application of the general safeguards procedure when necessary," a boosted special surveillance mechanism for agricultural imports from GSP beneficiaries to the EU, and increased transparency via a "structured dialogue with civil society and better communication between the Commission and the Council."