Van Bael & Bellis successfully assisted Italy in the framework of the safeguard investigation initiated by the European Commission under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Regulation with regard to imports of Indica rice originating in Cambodia and Myanmar. Both Cambodia and Myanmar benefit from the Everything But Arms (EBA) arrangement, which is one of the pillars of the GSP and guarantees tariff-free access to the EU market for all exports, except for weapons and ammunition. With the support of other EU rice-producing Member States, Italy claimed in its request that the significant increase in imports of Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar at low prices caused EU growers and millers of Indica rice to experience serious difficulties. At the end of the investigation, the Commission concluded that Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar is imported in volumes and at prices which cause serious difficulties to EU producers. Consequently, for the first time since the adoption of the GSP Regulation in 2012, the European Commission decided to make use of the safeguard provisions in the GSP Regulation in order to protect the interests of the EU industry. The common customs duty with regard to imports of Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar will be reinstated as from 18 January 2019 for a period of three years, with a progressive reduction in the second and third years of its application. Italy was assisted by Van Bael & Bellis partner Fabrizio Di Gianni, senior associate Aldo Scalini and associate Sofia Gentiloni Silveri. The Commission’s implementing regulation was published in today’s Official Journal.
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