In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 980/2005 applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences (the GSP regulation), the Commission presents a report on the current status (April 2008) of ratification and effective implementation of the Conventions listed in Annex III of the GSP Regulation by the 15 countries that were granted the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance (GSP+) by Commission Decision of 21 December 2005.
The 15 beneficiary countries of the GSP+ arrangement are as follows:
Almost three years after these countries began to benefit from the GSP+, all the beneficiaries have now ratified all conventions listed in part A of Annex III. Some countries which had not ratified the conventions of part B of Annex III are doing so.
In July 2005 none of the 15 GSP+ beneficiary countries had ratified all of the 11 part B conventions; by April 2008 ten countries (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, El Salvador and Moldova) ratified all part B conventions; four countries (Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Venezuela) have ratified all but one convention, while Georgia has yet to ratify two conventions.
As far as effective implementation is concerned, the report notes that the recommendations of the ILO and UN monitoring bodies, as presented in Annex IV of the Commission Staff Working Document accompanying this GSP+ Report, reveal various shortcomings in the implementation process but in general demonstrate a satisfactory state of play.