Scheme of generalised tariff preferences: GSP+ Kyrgyzstan

2015/2995(DEA) 20/01/2016

The European Parliament rejected, by 125 votes to 530, with 53 abstentions, a motion for a resolution pursuant to Rule 105(4) of the Rules of Procedure by Helmut Scholz, Kostas Chrysogonos, Stelios Kouloglou, Eleonora Forenza, Miguel Urbán Crespo, Tania González Peñas, Xabier Benito Ziluaga, Lola Sánchez Caldentey, Estefanía Torres Martínez on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group, seeking to object to the Commission delegated regulation of 25 November 2015 amending Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences.

To recall, Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts in order to establish or to amend Annex III thereof in order to grant a requesting country the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance by adding that country to the list of GSP+ beneficiary countries. The special GSP+ incentive initiative provides that no duties are levied on imports of more than 6 000 tariff lines from beneficiary countries.

Members behind the motion for a resolution stated that in the report to the 2015 International Labour Conference, the International Labour Organisation Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) listed the Kyrgyz Republic among the countries still concerned by a failure to submit the instruments adopted by the Conference to the competent authorities.

In addition, Members found shortcoming in the:

report of 20 December 2013, the Committee against Torture (CAT) concerning the ongoing and widespread practice of torture and ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty;
report of 19 April 2013, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD);
report of 7 July 2014 regarding the Convention on the Rights of the Child of its Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding cases of torture and ill-treatment of children by the representatives of law enforcement in detention facilities and closed institutions and a growing number of cases of sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

Member stated that the parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic ignored the European Parliament’s resolution of 15 January 2015 on the country’s homosexual propaganda bill, and moved the bill forward to pass its second reading.

Considering that abovementioned shortcomings constitute a serious failure to implement effectively the relevant conventions listed in Annex VIII to the GSP Regulation, Members called on the European Parliament to object to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No C(2015)08213 of 25 November 2015 amending Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences.