6 Generalised System of Preferences from
2005
| (26363)
6153/05
COM(05) 43
| Commission Communication concerning amendment of the Commission's proposal for a Council Regulation applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences for the period 1 July 2005 to 31 December 2008
Amended draft Council Regulation applying a system of generalised tariff preferences
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| Legal base | Article 133EC; QMV
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| Document originated | 10 February 2005
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| Deposited in Parliament | 17 February 2005
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| Department | Trade and Industry
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 28 February 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | None, but see footnotes 2 and 3 below
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| To be discussed in Council | 16 March 2005
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared, but relevant to the debate already recommended on the Generalised System of Preferences
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Background
6.1 The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) is intended to
promote the economic development of developing countries by offering
them preferential market access. The Communitys GSP, which is
binding on the UK and other Member States, runs until the end
of 2005.[19] It extends
to 178 independent countries and territories, includes both agricultural
and industrial products, and covers some 7,000 out of a maximum
10,000 tariff lines, with most of the exclusions being in the
agricultural area.
6.2 In July 2004, the Commission produced a Communication[20]
suggesting the arrangements which should apply under the next
ten-year cycle, from 2006 to 2015. It proposed that the current
preferential margins should at least be maintained, but that there
should be a number of changes in the detailed arrangements, having
regard — among other things — to the WTO's Doha Development
Agenda. These were set out in our Report of 15 September 2004,
in which we noted the Government's support for what had been proposed,
both generally and in terms of the detailed changes proposed.
In view of this, and the essentially consultative nature of the
document, we decided to clear it.
6.3 The Commission has subsequently
sought to give legislative effect to a new GSP cycle, though —
in common with the staged approach to previous such cycles —
the proposal it put forward
in October 2004[21] would
do so only up to the end of 2008. It was, however, intended to
commence on 1 July 2005, six months earlier than originally envisaged,
in order to comply with a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling
that additional preferences given to the countries
of central America and the Andean Community to help in the
fight against the production and trafficking of illegal drugs
are incompatible with the Organisation's rules (on the grounds
that the criteria for selecting the beneficiaries lack transparency
and objectivity). Subject to these points,
the proposal draws heavily on the elements in the previous Communication,
and these were again set out fully in our Report of 1 December
2004, in which we concluded that it would now be timely for the
issues concerned to be considered by the House. We therefore recommended
the proposal for debate in European Standing Committee C.
The current document
6.4 In this document, the Commission has noted that,
as a consequence of the tsunami on 26 December 2004, several Asian
countries are facing particularly serious problems, and it has
therefore proposed that the entry into force of the new GSP scheme
should be brought forward from 1 July 2005 to 1 April 2005. It
says that this would provide better market access for all developing
countries, including those hit by the tsunami, and that it would
provide particular benefits for Sri Lanka, in relation to those
provisions regarding sustainable development and good governance.
At the same time, where (exceptionally) the existing GSP arrangements
provide for a more favourable treatment of products than that
now proposed, the proposal would enable those existing preferences
to continue to apply until 30 June 2005.
Conclusion
6.5 We have already recommended the original proposal
for debate in European Standing Committee C. That debate is due
to take place on 7 March 2005, and this document, which we clear,
is relevant to that debate.
19 The cycle originally ran for ten years until the
end of 2004, but was extended for a year to allow the Accession
States to participate in its renegotiation. Back
20
(25799) 11393/04; see HC 42-xxxi (2003-04), para 13 (15 September
2004). Back
21
(26063) 13931/04; see HC 38-i (2004-05), para 2 (1 December 2004). Back
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