(1)

Article 4 of the Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 establishes the criteria for granting tariff preferences under the general arrangement of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (‘GSP’).

(2)

Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 provides that a country that benefits from a preferential market access arrangement which provides the same tariff preferences as the GSP, or better, for substantially all trade, shall not benefit from GSP.

(3)

The list of beneficiary countries under the GSP is established in Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 978/2012. Pursuant to that Regulation, the Commission is to review Annex II by 1 January of each year in order to amend the status of the listed countries in accordance with the criteria laid down in Article 4 of that Regulation.

(4)

Pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012, a GSP beneficiary country and economic operators are to be given sufficient time for an orderly adaptation to the country’s GSP status revision. Therefore, the decision to remove a beneficiary country from the list of GSP beneficiary countries on the basis of Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012, shall apply as from two years after the date of application of a preferential market access arrangement.

(5)

A preferential market access arrangement started to apply to Kenya on 1 July 2024. In accordance with Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012, Kenya should be removed from Annex II to that Regulation. In line with precedents in comparable cases and in order to ensure legal certainty and avoid undue administrative burden, the removal of Kenya from Annex II should apply from 1 January 2027,

KE

Kenya