Everything but Arms
Everything but Arms (EBA) is an initiative of the European Union under which all imports to the EU from the Least Developed Countries are duty-free and quota-free, with the exception of armaments. EBA entered into force on 5 March 2001. There were transitional arrangements for bananas, sugar and rice until January 2006, July 2009 and September 2009 respectively. The EBA is part of the EU Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).[1]
The aim of the scheme is to encourage the development of the world's poorest countries.
Samoa, having graduated from LDC status in 2014 (becoming instead a developing country),[2] was removed from the list of EBA beneficiaries on 1 January 2019.[3]
On January 16, 2019, the European Commission decided to re-introduce import duties on rice from Cambodia and Myanmar. This was done because imports of Indica rice from both countries combined have increased by 89% in the past five rice-growing seasons. At the same time, the prices were substantially lower than those on the EU market and had actually decreased over the same period. This surge in low-price imports has caused serious difficulties for EU rice producers to the extent that their market share in the EU dropped substantially from 61% to 29%.[4]
See also
- Free trade
- European Union
- Trade and development
- Common Agricultural Policy
- World Trade Organization
- African Growth and Opportunity Act
References
- ^ Therefore the legal text can be found in the GSP regulation, art 12 and 13.
- ^ Ashton, Melanie (2012-06-02). "UN-OHRLLS Announces Samoa to Graduate from LDC Status". IISD's SDG Knowledge. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
- ^ "GSP EBA country list" (PDF). European Commission. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
- ^ "EU imposes safeguard measures on rice from Cambodia and Myanmar", a press release by the European Commission. Brussels, 16 January 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
External links
- European Union Generalised System of Preference regulation EC No 980/2005
- European Commission EU Trade Helpdesk - "Everything But Arms"
- Oxfam, December 2000, "Everything but Arms and Sugar?"
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