Chapter III, Article 9 · Regulation (EU) 2026/1395

Contents

Article 9 #

1.A beneficiary country may benefit from the tariff preferences provided under the GSP+ if the following conditions are met:

(a)it is considered to be vulnerable, as defined in Annex V, due to a lack of diversification;

(b)it has ratified all the relevant conventions and the Commission has not identified, on the basis of the available information, in particular the most recent available conclusions of the monitoring bodies under those relevant conventions, a serious failure to effectively implement any of the relevant conventions;

(c)it has not formulated a reservation in relation to any of the relevant conventions, which is prohibited by that relevant convention or which is for the purposes of this Article considered to be incompatible with the object and purpose of the relevant conventions;

(d)it gives a binding undertaking to maintain ratification of the relevant conventions and to pursue and ensure the effective implementation thereof, underpinned by a plan of action;

(e)it accepts without reservation the reporting requirements imposed by any of the relevant conventions and gives a binding undertaking to accept regular monitoring and review of its implementation record in accordance with the relevant conventions;

(f)it gives a binding undertaking to participate in, and cooperate within the framework of, the Union’s reporting and monitoring procedure provided for in Article 13.

2.For the purposes of paragraph 1, point (c), reservations shall be considered to be incompatible with the object and purpose of a relevant convention if:

(a)a process explicitly set out for that purpose under the relevant convention has so determined; or

(b)in the absence of such a process, the Union, where it is a party to the relevant convention, or a qualified majority of Member States parties to the relevant convention, in accordance with their respective competences as established in the Treaties, objected to the reservation on the grounds that it is incompatible with the object and purpose of the relevant convention and opposed the entry into force of the relevant convention as between them and the reserving state in accordance with the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

3.The plan of action referred to in paragraph 1, point (d), shall be based on available information, in particular on the most recent conclusions of the monitoring bodies of the relevant conventions. That plan of action shall also propose appropriate and indicative timeframes and shall identify, where relevant, the responsible institutions in the beneficiary country. The plan of action shall be forward-looking and priority-oriented. The plan of action shall be published once the country becomes a GSP+ beneficiary.

Defined terms · 13

Show every defined term

beneficiary countries
means countries benefitting from any of the preferential arrangements under the GSP;
Common Customs Tariff duties
means the customs duties specified in Part Two of Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, except those duties established as part of tariff quotas;
complaint
means a complaint submitted to the Commission through the Single Entry Point (SEP).
countries
means countries and territories that have a customs administration;
effective implementation
means the integral implementation of the undertakings and obligations undertaken under the relevant conventions, thus ensuring fulfilment of the principles, objectives and rights guaranteed in the relevant conventions in the beneficiary country’s entire territory, including in any areas of that territory that the beneficiary country has designated as a special economic zone or an export processing zone;
enhanced engagement
means a continuous process aiming to facilitate and incentivise beneficiary countries to make progress in the implementation of the conditions set out in this Regulation, or to address shortcomings in respecting the principles of the relevant conventions;
interested parties
includes those parties involved in the production, distribution or sale of the imported products referred to in paragraph 1 and of like products or directly competing products.
least-developed countries
means least-developed countries designated as such by the UN;
like product
means a product which is identical, that is to say alike in all respects, to the product under consideration, or, in the absence of such a product, another product which, although not alike in all respects, has characteristics closely resembling those of the product under consideration.
plan of action
means a list of measures provided by a GSP+ requesting country to effectively implement the relevant conventions;
preferential market access arrangement
means preferential access to the Union market through a trade agreement, either provisionally applied or in force, or through autonomous preferences granted by the Union;
Sensitive/non-sensitive
refers to the products included in the standard GSP (Article 6).
standard GSP beneficiary countries
means countries benefitting from the standard GSP as listed in Annex I and identified as such in column C thereof;

Article 9#

Article 9 #