The European Commission has announced that tariff preferences under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) will be suspended for certain products from India, Indonesia and Kenya. The suspension will take effect from Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023. This is part of the Commission’s three-year review to determine whether the value of the products in question exceeds certain thresholds.
Background
The GSP scheme is a trade policy instrument of the European Union (EU). It grants tariff preferences to developing countries when importing goods into the EU.
The GSP system consists of a
– general arrangement
– special arrangement in favor of least developed countries [so-called Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative] and
– Special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance [GSP+].
The list of GSP beneficiary countries is reviewed annually. GSP Regulation (EU) No. 978/2012 also contains provisions on the removal of tariff preferences for groups of products (so-called graduation) and safeguard measures in case of excessive imports into the EU. This is the case when the average value of these products imported into the EU from the GSP beneficiary country exceeds the thresholds listed in Annex VI of the said Regulation for three consecutive years. The thresholds are calculated as a percentage of the total value of imports of the same products into the Union from all GSP beneficiary countries.
