EU Council, Parliament Strike Provisional Deal Reshaping GSP Program
The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament struck a provisional deal on the revised Generalized Scheme of Preferences program, which grants EU trade preferences to developing countries. The provisional deal adds "stronger links to respect for human rights and the environment, and a better monitoring and transparency of the scheme," the council said. New conventions regarding human rights and environmental protections will be added to the program, and the proposal provides for an "urgency procedure for the rapid withdrawal of preferences in case of violations of the principles of these conventions," the council said.
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The program also will have a new link between the trade preferences and the developing countries' cooperation on migration and the readmission of their nationals illegally present in the EU.
Under the provisional deal, countries that will develop beyond the "least developed country" label in the next decade will still be able to benefit from the program if they "commit to strong sustainability standards," the council added. It will also lower the share of imports in a "specific sector beyond which a Standard GSP country temporary loses preferences" by 10% to better focus on preferences on less competitive products.
In addition, the deal includes a "specific process" regarding rules of origin "to ensure that the cumulation of rules of origin responds to the requesting country's development, financing and trade needs."
The EU will add a "specific automatic safeguard mechanism for rice imports," under which imports will be subject to a tariff rate quota system and face most favored nation tariffs for a specific period should the EU market face a "significant surge of rice imports above historical average imports to the EU." The agreement also will focus specific safeguard measures on textiles and ethanol by applying to GSP countries but not to "everything but arms" countries, and it would apply only if the value of imports from the country concerned exceeded 6% of the value of total EU imports of the product concerned and 47% of the imports of all GSP countries.
The legislation will apply from Jan. 1, 2027, after being endorsed by the Council and Parliament.