Trade regimes applicable to developing countries
The EU’s development policy stresses the importance of trade, and focuses on the countries most in need. The Generalised Scheme of Preferences gives some goods from developing countries preferential access to the EU market. Economic Partnership Agreements ensure preferential commercial treatment for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, while the Everything But Arms scheme applies to least developed countries. These schemes are in line with World Trade Organization rules.
Legal basis
The legal basis for the common commercial policy (CCP) is Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Article 207 TFEU stipulates that the ordinary legislative procedure, requiring Parliament’s approval, applies to the implementation of the CCP.
Under Article 218 TFEU, Parliament’s consent is required for the conclusion of international trade agreements such as Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).
EU trade and development
The 2012 Commission communication entitled ‘Trade, growth and development: Tailoring trade and investment policy for those countries most in need’ marked a significant change in the EU’s ‘trade and development’ paradigm. Although it still put trade at the centre of development strategies, it stressed the growing need to differentiate between developing countries in order to focus on those most in need, seeking to enhance synergies between trade and development policies.
At the multilateral level, the EU supports the World Trade Organization (WTO) Development Agenda, launched in Doha in 2001. In October 2015, it ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement concluded at the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, which is particularly important for developing and landlocked countries. At the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi (2024), a decision was taken about facilitating the process of graduating from ‘least developed country’ status and ensuring a smooth transition period. Furthermore, a declaration was adopted on the special and differential treatment of least developed countries regarding the implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
Adopted in 2007 and last revised in 2017, the EU Aid for Trade Strategy complies with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the European Consensus on Development and the EU Global Strategy. The 2023 EU Aid for Trade progress report confirms the EU and its Member States are the world’s leading Aid for Trade providers, having contributed EUR 23 billion in 2020, before regaining pre-pandemic levels of aid of approximately EUR 18.5 billion. This represents 42% of all Aid for Trade funds from bilateral and multilateral sources, showing a sizeable growth from a 33% contribution in 2018. Some 140 countries and territories are eligible for official development assistance.
The Generalised Scheme of Preferences
The purpose of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) is to facilitate access for developing countries and territories to the EU market by reducing tariffs on their goods. Originally, the EU granted unilateral tariff preferences to generate additional export revenue for developing countries so it could be reinvested in their own sustainable development. Under the 2012 reform, the GSP scheme was largely targeted towards countries most in need – the least developed countries (LDCs) – while retaining the scheme’s three components. The first of them is the standard GSP: an autonomous trade arrangement whereby the EU offers certain foreign goods non-reciprocal preferential access to the EU market in the form of reduced or zero tariffs. The second element, GSP+, is a specific incentive arrangement offering tariff elimination to vulnerable countries that have ratified and implemented international conventions relating to human and labour rights, the environment and good governance. The third component is the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative.
The eligibility criteria for the standard GSP – which offers a reduction in duties for approximately 66% of all tariff lines – were tightened to include only the most vulnerable countries with low and lower-middle incomes. As a result, the group of beneficiaries was substantially reduced from 176 to 23 during the 2016-2017 period, while countries classified by the World Bank as high-income or upper-middle-income countries were progressively taken out of the scheme. In 2025, 11 countries benefit from the GSP scheme.
GSP+, the special arrangement for sustainable development and good governance, provides for zero duties on approximately 66% of all tariff lines designated under the standard GSP. Applicable to developing countries considered to be vulnerable, this scheme has been made conditional on the ratification and implementation of 27 international conventions relevant to sustainable development, including basic human rights conventions, labour rights conventions, certain conventions relating to environmental protection and conventions relating to the fight against illegal drug production and trafficking. Failure to comply with these requirements results in suspension of the tariff concession. The list of beneficiaries covers eight countries.
These two GSP schemes were originally set to expire in December 2023, but have been extended until December 2027, as a new GSP regulation is currently under discussion between Parliament and the Council. The new regulation should continue to pursue the same policy of fostering the sustainable economic, social and environmental development of beneficiary countries, including respect for good governance and human rights, with the primary goal of eradicating poverty.
The EBA initiative grants duty-free and quota-free access for an unlimited period for all products, except arms and ammunition, imported from LDCs. In 2025 the EBA covers 46 countries, of which 33 are African countries, nine are Asian countries, three are Pacific countries and one is in the Caribbean (Haiti). Several EBA beneficiary countries are expected to graduate from the LDC category in the coming years.
All countries that have signed and ratified free trade agreements (FTAs) with the EU will automatically cease to enjoy preferential treatment, irrespective of their level of development.
Economic Partnership Agreements
EPAs became the principal instruments for promoting trade between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions under the Cotonou Agreement of 2000. In 2023, the EU, its Member States and 77 members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States reiterated the importance of these instruments and of ensuring the partnership’s continuity through the Samoa Agreement, which has been provisionally applied since 1 January 2024. EPAs are self-standing development focused trade deals, relying on essential elements of the Samoa Agreement. EPAs are designed to be WTO-compatible, and are progressively replacing the EU’s unilateral preferential trade regime. There are eight EPAs with 33 countries. Regulation (EU) 2016/1076 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 establishes market access arrangements for products originating in ACP countries.
State of play
The first regional EPA was the Caribbean Forum (Cariforum) EPA, signed in October 2008, and approved by Parliament on 25 March 2009. Currently in force provisionally, with the EPA joint institutions meeting regularly since 2010, the agreement is reviewed every five years. The first review took place in 2015. Independent ex post evaluations on the implementation and impact of the EPA were conducted in 2014 and 2021. Negotiations on the agreement to protect particular geographical indications are ongoing.
West Africa: the negotiations on a regional EPA between the EU and 16 West African countries, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union were concluded in February 2014. All EU Member States and 15 West African countries, except for Nigeria, have signed the EPA. In order for the EPA to be provisionally applied, all West African countries must sign, and at least two-thirds must ratify, the agreement. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana signed bilateral ‘interim’ EPAs on 26 November 2008 and 28 July 2016 respectively. On 1 December 2016, Parliament gave its consent and both interim agreements have since been provisionally applied. Ghana and the EU endorsed the full market access offer and schedule proposed by Ghana. Ghana started to liberalise its market for EU products in 2020, a process due to be concluded by 2029. In January 2024, Côte d’Ivoire further liberalised tariffs, intensifying efforts to develop and diversify its bilateral trade with the EU, with the final two out of five-phases of tariff liberalisation scheduled for 2026 and 2029.
Central Africa: Cameroon was the only country in Central Africa to sign an interim EPA with the EU, which entered into provisional application on 4 August 2014, after Parliament gave its consent in June 2013. Contacts are ongoing between the Central African regional organisations and the EU on the accession of other Central African countries, but a regional EPA has yet to be signed.
Eastern and Southern Africa: in 2009, four countries in the region (Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe) signed an EPA which has been provisionally applied since 14 May 2012. Parliament gave its consent on 17 January 2013. The agreement is open to other countries. Comoros signed the EPA in July 2017 and started applying it on 7 February 2019. Negotiations to extend the scope of the EPA, including all trade-related issues, such as the link between trade and sustainable development, and to establish consultative bodies for civil society and parliaments are ongoing. The 15th negotiation round took place in Brussels in March 2025.
East African Community: on 16 October 2014, the negotiations for the regional EPA were successfully concluded. On 1 September 2016, Kenya and Rwanda signed the EPA along with the EU Member States and the EU. However, the regional EPA has not been provisionally applied, as not all EAC members signed and ratified the agreement, which is a requirement for its application. In February 2021, the EAC Ordinary Summit of Heads of State decided to allow individual EAC countries to implement the EU-EAC EPA bilaterally, under the principle of ‘variable geometry’. Kenya pursued negotiations with the EU,, aimed at adjusting the EU-EAC EPA for individual implementation. The EU-Kenya EPA entered into force on 1 July 2024 after Parliament gave its consent on 29 February 2024. The first EU-Kenya Joint Council at ministerial level took place on 12 May 2025 in Nairobi. This bilateral EPA remains open for the accession of other EAC Partner States.
Southern African Development Community (SADC): The EU-SADC agreement was signed in June 2016 between the EU and the SADC EPA group, which consists of 6 of the 15 members of the SADC (Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini and South Africa). It entered into force provisionally in October 2016 after Parliament gave its consent in September 2016. For Mozambique the provisional application started on 4 February 2018, after the country had ratified the agreement. On 18 November 2022, the EU and Angola concluded negotiations on a Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement (SIFA). Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the agreement on 7 February 2024. As of 1 September 2024, the EU-Angola SIFA is in force and marks the first-ever EU agreement on investment facilitation. The EU and Angola are working on the implementation of the SIFA. On 13 March 2025, during the EU-South Africa summit, both sides launched talks for a clean trade and investment partnership.
Pacific: Parliament gave its consent to the EU-Pacific EPA in January 2011. The agreement was ratified by Papua New Guinea in May 2011. The Government of Fiji started applying the agreement in July 2014, and Samoa completed the process of accession to the EPA in December 2018, as did the Solomon Islands in May 2020. Accession agreements with Tuvalu, Niue and Tonga were concluded in late 2023 and early 2024, and Parliament gave its consent on 18 December 2024. Accession procedures are ongoing with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.
Rasma Kaskina