Vote on SL’s GSP Plus application today

By Chandeepa Wettasinghe 
The government appears to be making a last-ditch effort to appease the European Union (EU) Parliament with regard to the essential human rights reforms, as a crucial vote on Sri Lanka’s readmission to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Plus preferential trade status takes place today.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this week informed the cabinet that further amendments proposed to the cabinet could be included in the Code of Criminal Procedure (Special Provisions) Act No. 02 of 2013 (Rights of Detainees – Access to Legal Counsel), which was gazetted last month, during the committee stage.
Further, a draft of the Counter Terrorism Act to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act was also passed in the cabinet, although it has yet to be gazetted.
However, firmer commitments towards protecting children from underage marriages and the rights of those of differing sexual orientations, which have also been high up in the list of concerns of the EU parliamentarians, have yet to materialize.
A group of EU parliamentarians last week put forth a resolution to deny Sri Lanka access to GSP Plus, citing the slow pace of essential reforms in Sri Lanka. The vote will be taken up today.
Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva, who is currently visiting Brussels on a study visit programme for Sri Lankan parliamentarians, this week said he is lobbying his EU counterparts on Sri Lanka’s application for GSP Plus.
The EU absorbed nearly one-third of Sri Lanka’s US $ 10.55 billion exports in 2015 as the largest regional customer of Sri Lanka’s exports, while Britain, which took in nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s exports, is now in the process of leaving the EU.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake had said Sri Lanka could gain an annual tariff windfall of around US $ 1.9 billion if it regained GSP Plus.
If Sri Lanka’s application for GSP Plus gets shot down today at the vote, it will at least take about good eight to 10 months for the country to reapply.