A4-0038/94

Resolution on the Commission Communication to the Council and the European Parliament on the integration of developing countries in the international trading system - role of the GSP 1995-2004 (COM(94)0212 - C4-0059/94)

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament (COM(94)0212 - C4-0059/94),

-having regard to its previous resolutions on the generalized system of preferences and in particular its resolution of 14 December 1990 on the Commission communication to the Council concerning the Generalised system of preferences - Guidelines for the 1990s,

-subject to the transposition of the communication into the forthcoming regulation,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Development and Cooperation and the opinions of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A4-0038/94),

1.Confirms its support for a Community system of general preferences, the purpose of which is to promote the trade of developing countries, in particular the least developed among them;

2.Is of the opinion that the scheme will be able to play a positive role in the development policy of the European Union, once substantial improvements are made;

3.Stresses that there are a number of shortcomings in the present scheme, to which it has already drawn attention:

(a)insufficient take-up of the opportunities provided by the GSP,

(b)particularly low take-up by the least developed countries,

(c)too great an imbalance in the allocation of benefits between Asian and Latin American countries to the advantage of the former,

(d)the administrative complexity of the scheme and the problematic rules of origin which make it almost impossible, particularly for the least developed countries, to take advantage of the scheme;

4.Notes that these problems are comparable with those found in the Lomé IV Convention;

5.Regrets that at present there are no comprehensive, detailed studies available on the impact of the GSP on the completion of the single market and on economic and social cohesion in the EU, and calls on the Commission to produce a comprehensive study of this subject;

6.Welcomes the Commission's suggestion that the GSP should be regarded mainly as a development instrument which must focus on development targets; particularly appreciates the suggestion that the concept of development should be understood in a broad sense in the GSP context, so that it also covers social progress and the environment (sustainable development);

7.Stresses the need to develop the GSP for the benefit of the poorest developing countries and to withdraw it from the emergent countries;

8.Agrees with the proposal that special incentive arrangements should be introduced in the social field to grant additional advantages which enable countries to take social measures in accordance with ILO conventions to safeguard the fundamental rights of workers, with further attention being paid to the equal treatment of men and women at the workplace and the prevention of child labour;

9.Welcomes the proposal to introduce special incentive arrangements in the field of environmental protection which will enable countries and employers to bear the extra costs of more positive environmental regulations; particularly welcomes the fact that reference is made to the trade in tropical hardwoods; but recommends that the regulation also be applied to unprocessed tropical hardwoods and other products for which generally accepted environmental criteria have been developed or regulations established, in which connection reference can be made to the criteria of various international organizations;

10.Requests the Commission, however, to draw up these incentive proposals as a matter of urgency in the form of a green GSP so that they can be quickly introduced, rather than becoming effective only after the new system has been in operation for two years, as the Commission proposes;

11.Considers it right that in cases where there is insufficient respect for the abovementioned social rights and also in cases of fraud and failure to provide administrative cooperation, preferences should be suspended;

12.Requests the Commission to extend inspection in situ and refers in this respect to earlier requests made by Parliament;

13.Approves the environmental and social policy incentives, provided that all forms of protectionism are avoided and the GSP is not turned into the opposite of what it is intended to be;

14.Points out the limited preferential margin for incentive measures, which will mean that their effect will be extremely limited and therefore considers it urgently necessary that incentives granted in respect of intellectual property and the fight against drugs, for example, should be supported by other measures in addition to trade incentives;

15.Agrees with the basic assumption of overall neutrality in the degree of liberalization which the new scheme is to have vis-à-vis the present one; will however pay close attention to the way this is incorporated into the regulation and states that it will not accept any retreat from this principle;

16.Is very pleased at the abolition of quantitative restrictions in the form of tariff quotas or ceilings and supports, subject to the principle referred to in paragraph 15, the introduction of a mechanism to differentiate tariff margins;

17.Supports, subject again to the same principle, the introduction of a product/country graduation mechanism which must ensure that the full benefit of graduating the more advanced developing countries goes to the less developed countries; considers, however, the graduation and solidarity mechanisms to be complicated and cumbersome;

18.Stresses the absolute need to draw up a number of objectively incontrovertible criteria and for all parties to introduce clearer procedures for the actual application of the graduation machinery, the special incentive arrangements and total or partial exclusion from the scheme, being ever mindful of the desirability of simplifying the scheme;

19.Welcomes the fact that this graduation no longer takes account of the sensitivity of a product, since this criterion is not compatible with the aim of the GSP, i.e. to facilitate the integration of developing countries into the world market;

20.Insists that countries with a per capita GNP equal to or greater than that of the EU Member States should not participate in the GSP;

21.Is happy to support the proposal to guarantee a minimum application period of three years to give the scheme greater stability;

22.Considers, in view of the American experience, that the concept of 'unfair trading practices' as grounds for suspension of the GSP is too vague and hence counterproductive, and calls for it to be deleted; considers, on the other hand, that violation of intellectual property rules constitutes grounds for suspension;

23.Takes the view that goods carrying anti-dumping levies should be excluded from the GSP;

24.Considers that, as far as agricultural products are concerned, implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements should provide an excellent opportunity to improve operation of the GSP and enable the developing and least-developed countries to derive particular benefit from this substantial opening up of the Community market; would also consider the introduction of an environmental incentive clause, tied to certain products or types of agricultural production, to be of great interest;

25.Considers it necessary to introduce measures for technical assistance and for promoting the creation and support of producers' organizations, cooperatives, etc. in order to strengthen their role in trade relations with Community importers and to encourage producers in beneficiary countries as far as possible to make direct use of the preferential export scheme, which, owing to the complexity of international trading practices, is at times only of benefit to certain multinational companies;

26.Considers that development would be fostered if, as back-up to the GSP, technical aid and sales promotion, as well as flanking measures, were used to support the action of tariff preferences;

27.Supports unconditionally the immediate inclusion of South Africa on the list of GSP beneficiaries;

28.Insists that it should be involved in this and any further revisions of the GSP and consulted before they are implemented;

29.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.