ABSTRACT
The latest quantitative data used in this study refer to 1982. In fact few significant changes have been made to the Community GSP scheme, either in terms of coverage or mechanics, since that year and there is no danger that any general conclusions drawn from that data will now be out of date. However, discussion is now taking place about how the scheme might be modified in the future, a discussion spurred, not so much out of concern that access to Community markets for developimg country exports should be improved, but rather in response to the never-ending lamentations of industry interests from within the Community. These interests, in preference to outright demands for protection which would smack of being regressive, tend to focus on the GSP as perpetrating “unfair” advantages for low-cost producers. Even government spokesmen, apparently with a straight face, frequently demand a more equitable distribution of the “burden” of cheap imports. First we shall quickly review the most important changes in the EEC GSP since 1982, and then consider the implications for the GSP beneficiary countries of the accession of Spain and Portugal to the Community. After that we shall consider some alternative proposals for reform of the GSP in the light of the findings of the last chapters.
