Even though Sri Lanka remains under an open ended review for the US's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), its duty free benefits, equaling US$ 116 million in 2009, will continue to be available until a final decision is reached, according to Assistant US Trade Representative Michael Delaney.
Further commenting that the Sri Lankan media had "mis-characterised" the review, he stated that the GSP review was solely focused on labour rights and was independent of other countries.
However, Mr. Delaney refused to speculate or even comment on the specifics of the review except to say that it was still very early days and they were very encouraged by the “cordial and productive” meetings they were having with stakeholders. But that there was a very mixed picture being presented on the ground.
Mr. Delaney also revealed that, during the team's two-day visit to the country this week, the group had met with labour unions, employer associations, the government and others, while also noting that the review was being carried out by an intra-agency arm comprising representatives of the Office of the US Trade Representative and his country’s State and Labour departments. As well as confirming that, while a public hearing on GSP would be held in Washington DC this year, this review had nothing to do with that hearing and its outcomes, indicating that there was no timeline for the review being conducted.
Mr. Delaney also indicated that there were reviews ongoing for several countries so there was precedence for this process.
It was also revealed that, in Sri Lanka, the USA’s GSP duty free benefits were valued at US$ 116 million in 2009 and were accessed by industries including machinery, electrical products, chemicals, agriculture, jewelry, etc., while most textile and garments were not eligible for this benefit. Additionally, according to a statement, the review of Sri Lanka was initiated by the USA accepting a petition from high-powered trade union lobbying organisation, the American Federation of Labour (AFL-CIO), which is also based in Washington DC.
According to a statement, 3,400 products accessed the USA’s GSP duty free benefits across 131 countries. Additionally, countries that came under review in 2009 were Sri Lanka for workers rights and Argentina for arbitration awards. Meanwhile, Russia, Uzbekhistan and Lebanon continue to be under review for the area of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection while Bangladesh, Niger, the Philippines and Uzbekhistan were under an ongoing review for workers rights.
It was also noted that criteria for a review included whether the country in question was taking steps to afford workers internationally recognised worker rights, whether it provided important investor protections including enforcement of arbitration awards, and the extent of adequate and effective protection of IPR. |
E-mail
