Global Trade and Customs Journal
Volume 10, Issue 3 (2015) pp. 118 – 128

https://doi.org/10.54648/gtcj2015011

Abstract

This article provides a legal analysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) legality of the withdrawal of tariff preferences to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) based on human rights violations under the EU Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Regulation. In particular, this article focuses in the alleged violations of human rights taking place in the sugar industry in Cambodia; sugar that is then almost fully exported to the EU under a preferential tariff scheme for LDCs ('Everything But Arms' scheme). The EU GSP Regulation has its own withdrawal mechanism under which tariff preferences can be withdrawn based on human rights violations. WTO law, however, and in particular the Enabling Clause, is silent on this matter. The article concludes that under WTO law tariff preferences can indeed be withdrawn based on human rights violations, and that the EU GSP Regulation would comply with the requirements for this withdrawal.

Extract

To read more, you can buy this article.