Contents
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 732/2008note, and in particular Article 17(2) thereof,Whereas:
(1)Pursuant to Article 17(1) of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012, a country which is identified by the United Nations (‘UN’) as a least-developed country should benefit from the tariff preferences provided under the special arrangement Everything But Arms (‘EBA’) for the least-developed countries. The list of EBA beneficiary countries is established in Annex IV to Regulation (EU) No 978/2012.
(2)The UN graduated Vanuatu from the least-developed country category on 4 December 2020. Therefore, Vanuatu no longer qualifies for EBA beneficiary status under Article 17(1) of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 and should be removed from Annex IV to that Regulation. In accordance with Article 17(2) of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012, the removal of Vanuatu from the list of EBA beneficiary countries should apply following a transitional period of 3 years as from the date on which that Regulation enters into force. Vanuatu should, therefore, be removed from Annex IV, with application from 1 January 2025,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1Amendment to Regulation (EU) No 978/2012#
In the table of Annex IV to Regulation (EU) No 978/2012, the following alphabetical code and the corresponding country is deleted from columns A and B, respectively:VU | Vanuatu
Source: EUR-Lex, © European Union, 1998-2026. Reuse authorised under Decision 2011/833/EU.