MONGOLIA AND THE EU GSP

Economic Impact

Although only a small share of EU imports from Mongolia is eligible for GSP+ preferences (most imports are duty free under normal tariffs), their value has almost steadily increased over the years (except for the pandemic years 2020 and 2021, and a drop in 2024). Mongolia's preference utilisation rate was above 80% in most years; in 2023, it dropped to 67% but somewhat recovered in 2024, to 78%. Utilisation of the GSP+ preferences varies across (large) product groups, ranging from more than 90% utilisation for headgear and light manufactures, to 64% for plastics.

The largest product sections under the GSP+ (€ million, 2024)

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND MONITORING PRIORITIES

Mongolia shows a strong engagement in the GSP+ monitoring process, despite challenges in taking more commercial advantage of the unilateral tariff preferences of the EU. Mongolia’s economy has experienced significant volatility, marked by alternating periods of rapid growth and emerging vulnerabilities.

Over the period 2023 to 2025, the following positive developments were noted:

• Human rights: Adopted laws aimed at increasing gender representation in the national Parliament, protecting children, securing the right of public demonstrations, and improving social insurance.
• Labour rights: Advancements on several fronts, including the enactment of policies and the production of data and statistics on the application of fundamental labour rights. Law on Labour Migration contains new provisions to protect the rights of foreign/migrant workers, and an electronic platform has been launched to register entities that receive foreign workers.
• Environment/Climate: The country has set climate objectives, including a long-term net-zero target, and there has been some progress in the submission of reports under certain relevant environment and climate international conventions.
• Governance: Reacted to the rapid increase in illegal use of narcotic and psychotropic substances in recent years with proposals to amend and improve the Law on Control of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and related legislation.

Remaining issues and priorities for future engagement are:

• Human rights: There is a need to improve the functioning of the justice system. Challenges remain in particular in areas such as violence against women and children, anti-discrimination, arbitrary arrest, occasional use of torture by police, and the use of legislation on defamation and on official and state secrets to curtail criticism of the government and revelations of corruption.
• Labour rights: Serious concerns persist regarding freedom of association, discrimination at the workplace and child labour. Decisive steps to eliminate child labour are needed.
• Environment/Climate: Reporting is uneven and, in several cases, long overdue. This need to be seriously improved.
• Governance: Strengthening the capacity of anti-corruption agencies and enhancing the effectiveness of legal frameworks will be crucial.

For more information about Mongolia’s compliance with the GSP conventions, see the convention compliance database. Also see the factsheet on Mongolia.

Monitoring priorities during the reporting period 2024-2025

For the reporting period 2024-2025, the EU has identified ten focus areas for its monitoring activities. Mongolia is showing commitment regarding the implementation of international labour conventions, also through the new Labour Law. The country faces many challenges in the field of environment, also related to pollution, which the EU is helping to address through its development cooperation. Finally, with regard to the international conventions on good governance, challenges remain especially in the area of corruption. This is an area where further work should be done.