Finance

Home page

Finance

EU reshapes its import scheme for developing countries

11 May 2011 12:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ahmad Yusifzada â€“ APA. The European Commission plans to concentrate its import preferences on those developing countries most in need. APA reports with reference to the European Parliamentâ€™s official website.

It will limit its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), with which it grants specific tariff preferences to developing countries in the form of reduced or zero tariff rates or quotas, to approximately 80 countries to take into account the emergence of more advanced developing countries which are now globally competitive. At the same time the Commission seeks to encourage more countries to respect core international conventions on human rights, labor standards, environment and good governance in the GSP+ scheme which grants additional trade concessions for trade-vulnerable countries.

"Global economic balances have shifted tremendously in the last decades. World tariffs are at all-time lows. If we grant tariff preferences in this competitive environment, those countries most in need must reap the most benefits. Trade and development go hand in hand and tariff preferences are a small part of our wider agenda to help poorer economies scale up their presence in global markets", said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht.

The proposals will be debated in the Council and European Parliament with a view to having the reformed GSP in place on 1 January 2014 at the latest.

The GSP scheme is implemented over cycles of ten years in order to take into account changing trade patterns. The present cycle began in 2006 and will expire in 2015. The scheme is implemented through successive Regulations applying for 3 years. The current GSP scheme is established by Council Regulation (EC) No 732/2008, which entered into force on 1 January 2009 and will expire on 31 December 2011. The Commission has put forward a "roll-over" Regulation, extending the present system until the end of 2013, to avoid GSP lapsing while the institutions discuss the new GSP proposal.