Safeguard clause for rice: GSP Agreement, an unfinished business
The automatic trigger is welcome, but the EBA scheme should not be turned into a European EBR – Everything But Rice! With this approach von der Leyen’s Commission will facilitate import of products that pose threats to public health, including some that are linked to child labour practices
Farm Europe and Eat Europe take note of the agreement reached last night in the final trilogue on the revision of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Regulation, while denouncing what we consider a missed opportunity to provide the sector with an effective mechanism capable of anticipating market disruptions caused by excessive imports from countries with low environmental and social standards.
“The introduction of an automatic trigger for the safeguard clause is a step forward, especially at a time where the European Parliament is assessing the safeguard clauses of the Mercosur Agreement” commented Yves Madre, President of Farm Europe. “Yet the activation conditions do not ensure real and effective protection for EU rice against imports from Asian countries whose production standards are far from those of the EU, putting the resilience of our sector at serious risk.”
We acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of the European Parliament negotiators, in particular of MEPs M. Mato and M. Polato, who defended the sector with determination. At the same time, we denounce the unacceptable stance of the Danish Presidency and the Commission, which refused to reopen a discussion on the functioning of the mechanism itself, reducing the negotiations to a mere bargaining exercise over rice volumes.
Crucial elements —such as the duration of the safeguard clause once triggered or the introduction of an automatic system to prevent circumvention practices— were completely ignored.
The agreed thresholds and surge percentages remain far too high, considering that imports have already exceeded 540,000 tonnes this year, with direct consequences on price trends for premium varieties, whose value has dropped by 35% compared with last year.
Without an effective automatic clause, the uncontrolled surge in imports observed since 2009 could intensify under future agreements between the EU and India, as well as with Mercosur, which—once fully implemented—foresees duty-reduced imports of 60,000 tonnes.
Any agreement, including with Mercosur, must therefore provide for automatic and effective safeguard clauses. We urge Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade to fully consider these dynamics when assessing the safeguard provisions linked to the Mercosur agreement.