EU to scrap Belarus trade perks over labour rights
15 Jun 2007 15:06:44 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds details, background) BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) - The European Union will scrap trade preferences for exports from Belarus because of violations of worker rights in the former Soviet state, the bloc's trade chief Peter Mandelson said on Friday. "Europe attaches great importance to work and labour conditions, and increasingly to environmental safeguards also. In this case Belarus is clearly flouting ILO (International Labour Organisation) standards," he said in a statement. Belarus exports will now be subject to the EU's standard import tariffs, which are three percentage points higher than preferential rates, the European Commission said, adding the move would affect about 10 percent of Belarus exports to the EU. The EU warned Belarus in December that it would remove the trade privileges unless Minsk addressed concerns over labour rights within six months. The ILO ruled on Friday that Belarus had not acted to ensure the protection of labour rights and the trade preferences would be withdrawn from June 21, the Commission said. "As soon as Belarus complies with its ILO obligations, the Commission will propose that its ... preferences are reinstated," it said in the statement. EU states Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, which border Belarus, had initially opposed the change but backed it at a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in December.
