Everything but Arms (EBA) is an initiative of theEuropean Union under which all imports to the EU from theleast developed countries areduty-free andquota-free, with the exception ofarmaments. EBA entered into force on 5 March 2001. There were transitional arrangements forbananas,sugar andrice until January 2006, July 2009 and September 2009 respectively. The EBA is part of the EUGeneralized System of Preferences (GSP).[1] The up-to-date list of all countries benefiting from such preferential treatment is given in Annex IV of the consolidated text of Regulation (EU) 978/2012.[2]
The aim of the scheme is to encourage thedevelopment of the world's poorest countries.
Samoa, having graduated from LDC status in 2014 (becoming instead adeveloping country),[3] was removed from the list of EBA beneficiaries on 1 January 2019.[4]
On January 16, 2019, theEuropean Commission decided to re-introduce import duties on rice fromCambodia andMyanmar. This was done because imports of Indica rice from both countries combined had increased by 89% in the five previous rice-growing seasons. At the same time, the prices were substantially lower than those on the EU market and had actually decreased over the same period. This surge in low-price imports has caused serious difficulties for EU rice producers to the extent that their market share in the EU dropped substantially from 61% to 29%.[5]
Cambodia lost its EBA status in 2020 overhuman rights concerns.[6]
GATT decision IV.D.3, dating back to 28 November 1979, provided the basis for more favourable treatments of least developed countries.[7] The first proposal of an EBA agreement started on 20 September 2000: theEuropean Commission proposed introducing "duty-free, quota-free access for all products from all least developed countries into the EU".[8] The preferential treatment promotes least developed countries (LDC) that, among other things, respect international conventions on human rights; the tariff preferences granted toCambodia were recently suspended on some products because of "serious and systematic violations of the human rights principles enshrined in theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights".[9]
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