The first round of assessment to monitor GSP + compliance by Sri Lanka will be held by the European Commission in January 2018, the EU Ambassador in Colombo Tung Lai Margue said.
The EU removed a significant part of the import duties on Sri Lankan products effective last Friday, as the country became eligible to enter its exclusive tax regime granted to selected low income and lower middle income countries.
Ambassador Margue said, the country will be subject to a bi-annual reporting system to ensure the recipient country will not shift from the commitments it has made to the EU in exchange for the tariff relief.
The removal of duties for Sri Lanka came into force on Friday, a day after publication in the ‘Official Journal of the EU’ of its decision to grant the concessions to Sri Lanka which was announced on May 15.
The Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom announcing the decision of the EU Parliament in Brussels said, “Granting GSP+ to Sri Lanka is a vote of confidence from the European Union that the Sri Lankan Government will maintain the progress it has made in implementing the international conventions.”