Norway improves market access for developing countries

The Norwegian Government has implemented several improvements to its General System of Preferences (GSP), with effect from 1 January 2013.

The GSP system has been revised several times since it was established in 1971. Duty-free and quota-free market access for all products from Least Developed Countries was introduced in 2002. In 2008 duty and quota free market access was extended to include 14 low-income countries in addition to the 50 LDCs already included. 

In 2011, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) (www.nupi.no) carried out a study of the GSP system. In the first half of 2012, an inter-ministerial working group made their recommendations regarding the new GSP system. The working group’s report is available in English here. The recommendations were endorsed by the Government and adopted by Parliament, and implemented on 1 January 2013.

The most extensive change under the recent revision is to establish a new category of countries: lower middle income countries [1] with a population of less than 75 million people. This group of countries, named the “GSP plus”, is granted better market access than the ordinary GSP countries. On the other hand, “GSP plus” countries are not granted duty free and market free access along the same lines as the least developed and low income countries.

One of the intentions behind the establishment of the “GSP plus” group is to soften the transition for countries graduating (“moving up”) from the low income country group, where they had free access to the Norwegian market, to the middle income country group where ordinary GSP preferences apply.

“GSP plus” countries are eligible to duty-free market access for all industrial goods. With regard to agriculture, these countries are granted full market access for an additional list of 51 specific goods, and a 50 % tariff reduction for an additional 15 goods. For more details, see the Directorate of Customs and Excise website:  GSP - Generalized System of Preference.

The NUPI study made it very clear that imports to Norway from the poorest countries are limited in spite of the generous market access granted to these countries. There are, however, some success stories, such as cut flowers from Kenya and Ethiopia, honey from Ethiopia and Zambia, and sugar snaps from Guatemala.

Competitiveness depends on many factors, such as production facilities, efficient transport and public infrastructure, just to mention a few. Against this backdrop, trade related aid, good governance, support for infrastructure development and investments are crucial. Therefore, efforts in these areas must be strengthened in order to increase exports from the poorest countries to Norway- and other markets. The Government’s Action Plan for Aid for Trade is under revision.