Parliament endorses renewed EU trade instrument for development

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament.

• EU to continue granting trade preferences to developing countries to help eradicate poverty
• New human rights and environmental conventions added, with effective monitoring
• Preferential treatment may be withdrawn for failure to cooperate on readmission of irregular migrants
• New safeguards for EU rice producers

On Tuesday, Parliament adopted the renewed regulation on the generalised system of preferences (GSP).

The updated rules, passed with 459 votes in favour, 127 against and 70 abstentions, allow vulnerable developing countries to export goods to the EU with low or no tariffs. Several international human rights and environmental conventions have been added to the list of international treaties that participating countries must ratify to benefit from trade preferences. These include the Paris Agreement, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Migrant readmission conditionality

MEPs managed to include a series of stricter criteria that will need to be fulfilled before GSP countries see their preferential tariffs withdrawn for continued non-cooperation on the readmission of irregular migrants. These criteria include a longer evaluation procedure and mandatory engagement of at least 12 months with the countries concerned. There will also be a two-year delay for the least developed countries in the application of the readmission conditionality.

Rice

To do more to protect the sensitive EU rice sector, Parliament’s negotiators ensured that automatic safeguards will be triggered once a 45% surge of rice imports on an average of 10 years is reached.

Quote

Bernd Lange (S&D, DE), Chair of the Committee on International Trade, and rapporteur, said:

“Today we deliver on the EU’s flagship development scheme that benefits more than 2 billion people in over 60 countries. By providing near-duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market for another 10 years, the EU is redoubling its efforts to be a trustworthy, predictable and durable partner for the developing world.

Two issues prolonged the negotiations. On readmissions, Council moved considerably to meet Parliament’s concerns, creating a balanced system with clear guardrails and a differentiated system for least developed countries. In practice, this conditionality will be very hard to trigger. On rice safeguards, we now have a system that will be triggered automatically in the event of excessive volumes of rice imports.

Ultimately, this system remains what it must be—a driver of sustainable growth, poverty reduction, and fair globalization. Trade is not an end in itself. It is a tool and we have now improved it. This is particularly significant at a time when China is intent in expanding its trade ties and the US is raising trade barriers for the developing world.”

Next steps

Once formally adopted by the Council of the EU, the legislation will be signed and published in the Official Journal of the EU. It will then enter into force and apply for a period of 10 years.

Background

The generalised system of preferences (GSP) has been the EU’s preferential trade arrangement with developing countries since 1971. It offers developing countries reduced duties when exporting to the EU with the aim of eradicating poverty, promoting sustainable development, and better integrating these countries in the world economy. The GSP system covers more than 60 countries and 2 billion people around the world. Parliament voted in October 2023 to extend current rules after talks with the Council on the new rules were paused.