Seychelles to remain unaffected by UK’s recently announced poorer countries trade scheme |24 August 2022
The UK’s Department of International Trade last week launched the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), a new framework offering 65 developing nations around the world lower tariffs and simpler ‘rules of origin’ requirements for exporting to the UK.
The DCTS, which is to replace the UK’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), seeks to harness the power of trade and improve access to the UK market, to help developing countries grow and prosper, while British households and businesses benefit from lower prices and more choice.
As per the scheme, a wide variety of products including clothing, shoes, textiles, and certain categories of food products will see substantially lower tariffs for developing exporting countries, with much simpler trading conditions.
Of the 65 countries who are to benefit, 47 fall under the GSP Least Developed Country (LDC) Framework, with an additional 18 countries or territories classified by the World Bank as low income (LIC) and lower middle-income (LMIC).
The scheme does not apply to countries classified by the World Bank as upper-middle income for three consecutive years, or to LICs and LMICs with a free trade agreement (FTAs) with the UK.
While some countries from Africa stand to benefit, along with others in Asia, Oceania and the America’s, Seychelles is to remain “unaffected in its trade relations with the UK” in light of its decision to cut taxes and tariffs on goods, especially food imported from Africa.
“Seychelles as a member of the Eastern Southern Africa (ESA) States currently benefits from Duty Free Quota Free trade with the United Kingdom (UK). To date, the country has signed an agreement to extend an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between UK-ESA to secure the current trade relationship, following the UK’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) in January 2020. The agreement came into force as of January 2021 and provides Seychelles duty free quota free market access on all goods exported from Seychelles into the UK market,” the Ministry of Finance, National Planning and Trade said in a statement to Seychelles NATION.
Most of Seychelles’ main counterparts within the African continent already have a similar agreement with the UK.
Despite the fact that many goods – from textiles to fruit – in the world’s 65 poorest nations already benefit from reduced or zero tariffs when selling to the UK, the new scheme will further cut some of those charges.
The scheme builds on a wider programme from the UK to drive a “free trade, pro-growth agenda across the globe, using trade to drive prosperity and help eradicate poverty”, the government said last week.
It is set to come into effect in early 2023.
Laura Pillay