Resources from EU Websites

• DG TRADE Generalised Scheme of Preferences - The Commission's official pages on the GSP
• Access to Markets Database - provides detailed information for traders wishing to trade with the EU
• EU Delegation Websites in GSP Beneficiary Countries
• Access to country pages on the International Partnerships website - Information about development cooperation
• Enterprise Europe Network
• Biennial reports of the Commission on the GSP (these are accompanied by country reports on GSP+ countries and countries in enhanced engagement with the EU)

GSP Legislation

• EU GSP Regulation (main legislation governing the GSP until the end of 2027; the link leads to the consolidated version of the Regulation and represents the valid status as of 1 January 2025)
• Commission Delegated Regulation removing Kenya from the list of GSP beneficiaries from 1 January 2027 (because of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and Kenya)
• Commission Delegated Regulation changing Bhutan's status from an EBA beneficiary to a Standard GSP beneficiary, from 1 January 2028 (because of Bhutan's graduation from LDC status in 2023)
• Commission Implementing Regulation suspending tariff preferences for certain product groups from India, Indonesia, and Kenya in the period 2023-2025

GSP Review and new regulation

• Information by the European Parliament about the GSP review and its current status (updated March 2025)
• Council Compromise on a revised GSP Regulation (December 2022)
• Summary of the Commission Proposal for a revised GSP Regulation (September 2021) with links to the proposed regulation and supporting documents
• Impact Assessment Report (2021) in preparation of the new GSP regulation
• Midterm Evaluation of the GSP (2018)

Monitoring Institutions and Bodies

• UNCTAD Handbook of the Scheme of the European Union
• Monitoring the international human rights conventions
• ILO - Applying and promoting International Labour Standards

Think Tanks & NGOs and Social Partners

• Friends of Europe
• International Institute for Sustainable Development
• International Trade Centre
• Institute for European Environmental Policy
• Make Trade (former Chamber of Trade, Sweden)
• Justice and Peace Netherlands
• Business Europe
• Amfori – Trade with Purpose

Sources used by the GSP Hub website

If you would like to undertake further research, you may wish to check the original sources that are used for the information and analysis provided here.

• Trade and economic data
  • Detailed statistics on GSP eligible and preferential trade, and preference utilisation, by GSP arrangement, beneficiary, and product section, for the period 2021 to 2025
  • EU country fact sheets on trade with external partners
  • Overall EU imports from GSP countries - Eurostat COMEXT database "EU trade since 2002 by HS2-4-6 and CN8 (DS-059322)"
  • Key export products and overall trade by GSP countries - ITC TradeMap
  • Population, GDP, GDP growth and inflation in GSP countries - World Development Indicators
  • World Bank country classification by income (relevant for graduation out of the GSP upon reaching at least upper-middle income status)
  • Detailed information about graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status (relevant for graduation out of the EBA)
• Ratifications of and reporting under the 27 international conventions on human rights, labour rights, environment and climate change, and good governance
  • Ratifications
    • Human rights, good governance and most environmental conventions (except CITES, see below): UN Treaties database - see in particular chapters IV (human rights), VI (narcotic drugs), XVIII (penal matters), and XXVII (environment)
    • Labour rights/ILO conventions
    • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
  • Monitoring of human rights conventions by country
  • Monitoring of labour rights: ILO conventions by country
  • Monitoring of conventions on the environment and climate change by country:
    • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
    • Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
    • Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
    • Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
    • Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
    • United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
    • Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
  • Monitoring of governance conventions:
    • For the three conventions on narcotic drugs: Annual reports and technical reports on narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, and precursors of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)
    • Country information on the United Nations Convention against Corruption