EU denies claim it revoked duty-free status for Maldives fish on gay rights grounds
President Abdulla Yameen’s claim that the European Union had revoked duty-free status for Maldives tuna over the country’s failure to implement freedom of religion and homosexual rights is “inaccurate,” a European Union official has said.
09 May 2016, 9:00 AM
President Abdulla Yameen’s claim that the European Union had revoked duty-free status for Maldives tuna over the country’s failure to implement freedom of religion and homosexual rights is “inaccurate,” a European Union official has said.
Paul Godfrey, the head of political, trade and communications section at the EU delegation to Maldives, said: “Very simply, the GSP and GSP+ scheme only apply to low and lower-middle income countries, as defined by the World Bank.
“The Maldives is now an upper middle income country and could not benefit from the scheme even if its respect for human rights was akin to New Zealand or Norway.”
The Generalised Scheme of Preferences offers generous tariff reductions to developing countries, which means partial or entire removal of tariffs on two thirds of all product categories.
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