Commercial Information Circulars

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Ref : EIC 230/20/1/1

19 December 2012

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 1076/2012

European Union (EU)* : Suspension of the Tariff Preferences for Certain Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Beneficiary Countries in respect of Certain GSP Sections under the New Scheme of Generalised Tariff Preferences

Further to the Commercial Information Circular No. 900/2012 of 5 November 2012, the European Commission (the Commission) has published an implementing regulation to establish a list of products for which tariff preferences are suspended in respect of certain Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) beneficiary countries, including the Mainland of China, under the new scheme of generalised tariff preferences to be applied for the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2023. The implementing regulation can be accessed through the following link:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:348:0011:0013:EN:PDF.

DETAILS

2.In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 978/2012, the tariff preferences of the general arrangement of the new GSP are to be suspended in respect of products of a GSP section originating in a GSP beneficiary country when the average value of Union imports of such products over three consecutive years from that GSP beneficiary country exceeds the thresholds listed in the Regulation.

3.On the basis of data available on 1 September 2012 and of the two preceding years, and in accordance with the opinion of the Generalised Preferences Committee, the Commission has established a list of GSP sections for which the tariff preferences are suspended in respect of the GSP beneficiary countries concerned, including the Mainland of China, in the Annex to the implementing regulation.

4.The implementing regulation shall enter into force on 19 December 2012 and shall apply from 1 January 2014 until 31 December 2016.

BACKGROUND

5.All along, the EU has accorded tariff preferences under a GSP scheme to a range of agricultural and industrial products originating from a number of developing economies to, inter alia, provide them with better market access to the EU. The current GSP scheme is applied under Council Regulation (EC) No. 732/2008, as extended until 31 December 2013 by Regulation (EU) No 512/2011. While Hong Kong has graduated from the scheme since 1 May 1998, the Mainland of China continues to be one of its beneficiaries. Over the years, a number of Mainland products have already graduated from the scheme, while some others, such as clothing items, were excluded from the start.

6.On 31 October 2012, the European parliament and the Council of EU published Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 to announce the application of a new GSP scheme for the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2023, and to repeal the current scheme with effective from 1 January 2014. For details, please refer to Commercial Information Circular No. 900/2012 of 5 November 2012.

ENQUIRIES

7.For enquiries concerning the contents of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5684.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Stella CHAN)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* The EU includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.