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EU suspends GSP Puls for Sri Lanka
Tue, 16 February 2010 05:40
EU state members voted to withdraw GSP Plus temporarily on Monday.
(NIDAHASA News) The European Union (EU) on Monday (15) withdrew GSP Plus preferential tariff benefits to Sri Lanka over human right violations of the country.
EU state members voted to withdraw GSP Plus temporarily on Monday.
The decision comes after an "exhaustive investigation" by the European Commission into the situation "which identified significant shortcomings in respect of Sri Lanka`s implementation of three UN human rights conventions," the EU executive said in a statement announcing the measure.
The EU however said that suspension of GSP Plus benefits is temporary, as the overarching EU objective remains to use GSP+ as an incentive to underpin improvements in the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. The suspension will only take effect in six months time, giving Sri Lanka extra time to address the problems identified.
"I hope Sri Lanka will sit with us over the next six months in order to agree upon a set of measures that will result in rapid... progress in relation to the human rights shortcomings we have identified," EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement.
Suspension of the preferential tariffs could hit Sri Lanka`s booming textile industry hard. The country earned a record $3.47 billion from exports of clothing to EU markets in 2008, the largest source of its foreign currency earnings.
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