Euratex opposes current GSP+ process

At the second Euratex convention that took place in Berlin on 4th and 5th 

November, the European textile and clothing industry urged the members of the International Trade Committee of the European Parliament to oppose the Unique Delegated Act that includes ten country applications for GSP+.

The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) allows industrialized countries to offer assistance like lower tariffs and duties to economically less developed ones for the promotion and enhancement of their export capabilities. The GSP+ system, put into action from 1st July 2005, allows for additional preferences like the full removal of tariffs and is an extension of the GSP.

The Commission decided earlier to assess all applications as a package and to include the ten pending GSP+ application in a single Unique Delegated Act. Euratex opposes this decision and would prefer a country-by-country analysis.

“The European Parliament should be given the possibility to assess each of the GSP+ applications based on their own merits. The EU Commission proposal including 10 applications in a Unique Delegated Act effectively denies this possibility”, said Euratex president Alberto Paccanelli.

Euratex is especially concerned about the adherence of the countries applying to implementing 27 conventions in the areas of human rights, environment and labor rights. “An objective and thorough assessment of all the individual applications should be done to ensure that each applicant country fulfils all the necessary conditions to obtain GSP+ status. In Euratex opinion not all the applicants considered in the Commission’s Delegated Act fulfil the necessary conditions. This is certainly the case of Pakistan one of the leading world exporters for T&C and a country that has already a dominant position in the EU market for a considerable number of Textile products”, said Paccanelli.