The European Union has set out a broad list of legal and human rights changes it wants Sri Lanka to make, in its latest assessment of the country’s standing under the GSP+ trade preference scheme.
The recommendations appear in a joint report to the European Parliament and the Council, now in the public domain, the Daily Mirror reported.
What Brussels is asking for
The report calls for the adoption of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation protecting ethnic and religious minorities and LGBTIQ+ people, and for the decriminalisation of consensual same-sex relations.
On the security and justice side, it urges the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and reform of anti-terrorism legislation in line with international standards, and the repeal of the Online Safety Act to secure freedom of expression.
It asks the government to address the targeted intimidation, harassment and surveillance of civil society by security forces, and to deal urgently with torture, police abuse and deaths in custody through effective accountability mechanisms.
The EU also calls for a formal moratorium on the death penalty as a step towards abolition — a recommendation that lands while the government is publicly weighing the reintroduction of executions for drug offences, and after reports that the gallows and executioners at Welikada remain on standby.
Further recommendations cover the protection of civic and democratic space, fostering gender equality, and combating domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and child abuse, including by prohibiting child marriage.
What is at stake
Sri Lanka has benefited from the EU’s Special Incentive Arrangement for Sustainable Development and Good Governance, known as GSP+, since the concession was reinstated in 2017. The country is the third-largest beneficiary of the scheme.
In 2024, imports into the EU using GSP+ preferences amounted to EUR 1.5 billion, with GSP+-eligible products accounting for 83.5% of total imports from Sri Lanka. The report puts the value of tariff exemptions Sri Lanka enjoyed that year at an estimated EUR 139 million.
The utilisation rate stood at 68.9% in 2024, which the report indicates leaves significant room for Sri Lankan exporters to make fuller use of the concession.
