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EU preferential market access conditions for the least developed countries

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  • Trade policy
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Intereconomics

Abstract

The EU has opened up its market to duty and quota free imports from the least developed countries. This article outlines the key elements of this initiative and the factors determining its likely effects and argues that the EU must also liberalise and reform its prefernntial rules of origin if the initiative is to be effective in achieving its objectives.

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References

  1. Council Regulation (EC) No. 602/98 of 9.3.1998.

  2. Council Regulation (EC) No. 416/2001 of 28.2.2001.

  3. COM (2001) 293 final, Brussels 12.6.2001.

  4. ACP-EU 317//01/fin Resolution.

  5. Council Regulation (EC) No. 416/2001, para. 11.

  6. 9bid., Council Regulation (EC) No. 416/2001, para. 11 Arrticle 1(6).

  7. Aligning these preferences with the move from a quota to a tariff only system of protection from 1 January 2006.

  8. 416/2001 Part 1(4) amending Regulation EC No. 2820/98, Art.22(1)(d).

  9. General Secretariat of the Council Doc. No. 8/01 SPG 2.3.01.

  10. For a recent discussion of this see C. Stevens, M. McQueen: Regional Trade Agreements, Department of International Development (DFID), Trade and Investment Background Briefing No.2, 2000, www.dfid.gov.uk.

  11. Commission: EU Trade Concessions to Least Developed Countries (revised version), Brussels 2001, www.europa.eu.int/trade.

  12. C. Stevens, J. Kennan: The Impact of the EU's Everything but Arms Proposal: A Report to Oxfam, IDS, Sussex, January 2001; M. McQueen et al.: ACP-EU Trade and Aid Co-operation post Lomé IV, London, Commonwealth Secretariat, 1998, Ch.2.

  13. Commission proposal for a Council Regulation applying a share of generalised tariff preference for the period 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2004, Brussels, 12.6.2001, Com(22001) 293 final.

  14. Set in a country specific basis at a total of 1,776,000 tonnes per marketing year for the period 2001–2 to 2005/6, OJL 78/28, 30.6.2001.

  15. FAO estimate quoted by C. Stevens, J. Kennan, op. cit. The Impact of the EU's Everything but Arms Proposal: A Report to Oxfam, IDS, Sussex, January 2001;

  16. EBA—An Impact Assessment for the Sugar Sector, ASSUC, 25 January 2001; Commission: EU Trade Concessions to Least Developed Countries, pp. 15–16.

  17. C. Stevens, J. Kennan, op. cit. The Impact of the EU's Everything but Arms Proposal: A Report to Oxfam, IDS, Sussex, January 2001; p. 10.

  18. The EU's GSP rules of origin are set out in Regulation (EC) No. 2454/93 as amended by Regulation (EC) No. 1602/2000, OJLL 188 of 26.7.2000.

  19. See, for example, M. McQueeen: Lomé and the Protective Rules of Origin, in: Journal of World Trade Law, Vol. 16, No. 2, March/April 1982, pp. 119–132.

  20. An average of 8%, ranging from 15% for Bangladesh to less than 4% for countries such as Angola and Mali (World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2001).

  21. See M. McQueen: After Lomé IV: ACP-EU Trade Preferences in the 21st Century, in: INTERECONOMICS, Vol. 35, No.55, September/October 1999, pp. 223–232.

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  1. University of Reading, UK

    Matthew McQueen

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  1. Matthew McQueen
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McQueen, M. EU preferential market access conditions for the least developed countries. Intereconomics 37, 101–109 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02930158

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