Brussels, 20/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has concluded that La Paz is respecting its commitments with regard to international conventions on fundamental rights and sustainable development.
After a year of investigation (which was started in March 2012) into Bolivia's non-respect of one of the 27 international conventions on human rights, labour rights and sustainable development - in this case the UN single convention on narcotic drugs - a convention which La Paz denounced (in other words, withdrew from) on 1 January 2012, the European Commission decided on 19 March to maintain Bolivia's beneficiary status of the generalised system of preferences GSP+. The GSP is a scheme of preferential tariffs granted to developing countries which make concerted effort with regard to good governance.
The Commission's investigation revealed that after withdrawing from the UN single convention on narcotic drugs, Bolivia still incorporated the relevant provisions of the convention into its national legislation and that there had been no weakening in their effective implementation. Bolivia had denounced the convention on narcotics, asking for immediate re-accession with a reservation which would allow the traditional use of the coca leaf. The Bolivian request was accepted on 10 January and, according to the procedural rules, Bolivia has once again been party to the convention since 10 February.
The Commission has therefore decided to close its investigation - during which Bolivia continued to benefit from the GSP+ preferences, which helped it to export for over €45 million in 2011.
The European Parliament rapporteur on relations with Bolivia, Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL, Germany), immediately welcomed the Commission's decision. “This happened after a technically necessary manoeuvre by Bolivia of leaving and re-entering the convention in order to obtain an exemption on the chewing of coca leaves on the grounds that it is part of its cultural heritage (…) It is a positive sign from the EU member states that decided unanimously in favour of Bolivia's GSP+ status, despite the fact that some of them, in particular the UK, had opposed the return of Bolivia to the UN convention, jointly with the US and a few other countries”, Scholz said. (EH/transl.fl)