The European Union (EU) has urged Pakistan to accelerate reforms in human rights, governance, labor rights, and environmental protection to maintain its GSP+ trade status, which provides substantial tariff-free access to European markets.
According to the EU’s fifth monitoring report on the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), Pakistan exported €7.5 billion worth of eligible goods to the EU in 2024, benefiting from an estimated €732 million in tariff exemptions. Since joining the GSP+ program in 2014, Pakistan’s exports to the EU have increased by more than 91 percent, with exporters utilizing over 95 percent of the available trade preferences.
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The report acknowledged progress in several areas, including legislation to establish a National Commission for Minorities, measures to narrow the scope of the death penalty, implementation of rules under the Anti-Torture Act, domestic violence legislation for Islamabad, the country’s first marital rape conviction, ratification of the ILO Protocol on Forced Labour, expanded labor inspections, and updated provincial plans to combat child labor.
However, the EU stated that many of these improvements remain largely legislative and have yet to produce meaningful results on the ground. The report also raised concerns over enforced disappearances, alleged extrajudicial killings, restrictions on freedom of expression, judicial independence, forced and child labor, violence against women, discrimination against minorities, and corruption.
The EU emphasized that continued progress on these commitments will be essential for Pakistan to retain the valuable trade benefits offered under the GSP+ scheme.
