DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 25 January) – Mindanawon exporters will continue to benefit from European Union’s Generalized Scheme of Preference Plus (GSP+) that removes tariff rates on exports coming from vulnerable developing countries after it has been extended for another four years effective January 1 until December 31, 2027, an executive of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) announced.
During “Wednesdays Media Forum at the Habi at Kape,” MinDA Assistant Secretary Romeo Montenegro said that the request for extension was granted last December 2023 after conducting a series of consultations to convince the EU to extend the GSP+.
He said the EU is preparing for a “successor policy regime that is going to be permanent” in place of the GSP+, which is renewable every four years.
He said several exporters from Mindanao, particularly those engaged in tuna and sardine industries as well as other goods, have benefited from the GSP+ of the EU because it removes the 40% tariff rates that they would have paid for goods being exported to the European market.
According to the European Commission, the GSP+ is the “the special incentive arrangement for Sustainable Development and Good Governance that supports vulnerable developing countries that ratified 27 international conventions on human rights, labor rights, environmental protection and climate change, and good governance.”
It added that the GSP+ eligible countries “must be considered vulnerable due to a lack of export diversification and insufficient integration within the international trading system.”
He said the Philippines is the only one in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations accorded with the privilege.
He said that with GSP+, export commodities from Mindanao have become more competitive upon reaching the European market as they can be sold at lower cost, owing to the removal of the import duties.
“With that (tariffs), our products are more expensive when they reach Europe, so fewer people will buy them because they are not as competitive as the other products (sold in that market). Because of this incentive, this is being leveraged by our exporters from Mindanao,” he added.
Montenegro said MinDA hopes other agri-based products of Mindanao, including the specialty coffee, would seize the opportunity of being exported to the European market at zero tariffs. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)