Generalized Tariff Preferences for Development and Emerging Countries: Assessment and Perspectives

The paper addresses the role and efficacy of trade preferences within development cooperation policies. It does so from a legal perspective, in relation to past, current and prospective frameworks of trade preferences for developing countries, and takes into account the role of private business as major actors of development in beneficiary countries, given that the trade (and investment) component of development policies relies on firms for successful implementation. Moreover, it looks at emerging countries, particularly African ones, as significant examples of the evolving relevance of trade preferences to processes and actors involved in promoting development. Accordingly, the main problematic issues will be outlined with regard to the traditional trade instrument designed to foster development, i.e. the Generalized System of Preferences adopted since the 70s by developed countries to extend preferential duties on imports of products originating from developing countries (Section 2). The legal arrangements backing such trade regime up with respect to resource-seeking and export-oriented investments by foreign firms into beneficiary countries, on the one hand, and the recent trend to raise export restrictions on raw materials and mineral products by some governments, on the other hand, will also been introduced into the discussion (Section 3). The challenges thus identified will be described in relation to the Sub-Saharan emerging countries throughout the evolving trade regime applied by the European Union for the last decade, that is also informed by World Trade Organization-compatibility, as compared with China's policy in the region (Section 4). In conclusion, some critical considerations will be drawn as regards the post-2015 development cooperation strategies and the increasing role attributed to trade therein, in light of recent academic contributions to their formulation by the EU.