Brussels, 19/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - At the end of last week, the European Union and Sri Lanka signed an agreement to reciprocally open their textile and clothing markets, which entered into force last 1 March. In the framework of this agreement, the first of its kind, the quotas still maintained on deliveries of textile products from Sri Lanka to Europe have been lifted and this country has undertaken, in exchange, a clear reduction and consolidation of all its customs duties in this sector (see EUROPE of 16 December 2000, p.15 and 2 March, p.12).
During the signing ceremony, Friday in Brussels in the presence of the President of Sri Lanka, Mrs Kumaratunga, Commissioner Pascal Lamy, responsible for trade policy, underlined that this agreement is the first result in a series of negotiations with countries that are members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), aiming to improve access to Community textile export markets on the basis of a reciprocity of opening concessions. This is the proof of the Union's undertaking with regards to a mutually beneficial liberalisation, he said, when inviting the other trading partners to "seize this opportunity and engage promptly in market access negotiations with the Commission".
Last 1 March, as part of this agreement, Sri Lanka: - notified the WTO of the consolidated duty rates for the whole sector (missing a few examples), to the value of 0% for the raw materials, 5% for fibres and yarns, 10% for fabrics and 17.5% for clothing products; - reduced a certain number of tariff peaks from 25% to 10%, in particular for carpets. Colombo also promised to not longer use non tariff barriers on imports of textiles and clothes. The same day, the Union undertook the lifting of four remaining quotas on imports of trousers (category 6), cotton shirts (category 7), cotton shirts (category 8) and anoraks (category 21) from Sri Lanka. To avoid possible circumventing of quotas applicable to other suppliers, the two parties have introduced a system of double import and export licences for certain products including T-shits, trousers, jerseys, dresses and women's blouses (categories 4, 5, 6, 7 and 26). Safeguards have also been foreseen to carry out the withdrawal of concessions in case of the non-respect of undertakings made in this agreement, if the partners do not manage to resolve their problems through talks.