(1)

Article 9(1) of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 (GSP Regulation) establishes specific eligibility criteria for the granting of tariff preferences under the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance (GSP+) to the requesting country. For this purpose, the country should be considered vulnerable. It should have ratified all the conventions listed in Annex VIII of the GSP Regulation and the most recent available conclusions of the relevant monitoring bodies do not identify a serious failure to effectively implement any of those conventions. In relation to any of the conventions, it should not have formulated a reservation which is prohibited by that convention or which, for the exclusive purposes of Article 9 of the GSP Regulation, is considered to be incompatible with the object and purpose of that convention. It should accept without reservation the reporting requirements imposed by each convention and give the binding undertakings referred to in points (d), (e) and (f) of Article 9(1) of the GSP Regulation.

(2)

Each requesting country wishing to benefit from GSP+ had to submit a request accompanied by comprehensive information concerning ratification of the relevant conventions, its reservations and the objections to these reservations made by other parties to the convention and its binding undertakings.

(3)

The Commission received requests from Armenia, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Georgia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Paraguay and Peru.

(4)

The Commission has been empowered to adopt a delegated act in accordance with Article 290 TFEU to establish Annex III in order to grant GSP+ by adding the requesting country to the list of GSP+ beneficiary countries.

(5)

The Commission has examined the requests made in accordance with the provisions of Article 10(1) of the GSP Regulation, and has established the list of GSP+ beneficiary countries which meet the eligibility criteria. Accordingly, the GSP+ should be granted to those countries from 1 January 2014,