Lanka loses GSP plus – EU
| Lanka loses GSP plus – EU |
 The European Union in Brussels officially announced today that Sri Lanka will lose the GSP trade concessions in August after it failed to respond to a set of conditions laid down by the Commission. |
| The EU also expressed regret over Sri Lanka’’s decision to remain silent on the proposals by the EU for Sri Lanka to obtain a temporary extension of the GSP plus benefits by meeting some conditions. “We very much regret the choice of Sri Lanka not to take up an offer made in good faith and in line with the EU commitment to a global human rights agenda. We will however keep the door open for Sri Lanka to return to talks,” Catherine Ashton of the EU said in a statement today. “Our precedent-setting offer sought to recognise some tangible progress yielded during these last months of dialogue,” added EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht. “We hope that these results, however partial, will be sustained, in line with the incentivising characteristics of GSP+.” The statement by the EU Trade office said that Sri Lanka will temporarily lose its preferential access to the EU market starting from August 15th 2010, a decision which was taken by the Council of Ministers in February 2010. Based on dialogue with the Sri Lankan authorities on shortcomings in its implementation of three UN human rights conventions, the EU in June offered to delay the entry into force of the Council decision by a further six months. In exchange, it asked for tangible and sustainable progress on a number of outstanding issues. In the absence of a reply from the authorities in Colombo by 1 July, the Commission is not in a position to table a proposal with a view to delaying the Council Decision, the EU statement said. |