Canada – Proposed preferences for Burma

On November 8, 2014, the Canada Gazette published a Proposed Order Amending the Schedule to the Customs Tariff (Extension of General Preferential Tariff to Burma) and a Proposed Order Amending the Schedule to the Customs Tariff (Extension of Least Developed Country Tariff to Burma) pursuant to the Customs Tariff. The proposed orders would extend entitlement to Burma for:

• the General Preferential Tariff (GPT) offers tariff rates that are lower than Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) Tariff rates to goods imported from developing countries identified in the Schedule to the Customs Tariff; and
• the Least Developed Country Tariff (LDCT) offers duty-free access on the importation into Canada of all products (with the exception of supply-managed agricultural goods) from least developed countries, as identified by the United Nations and listed in the Schedule to the Customs Tariff.

Burma’s eligibility for the General Preferential Tariff (GPT) and the Least Developed Country Tariff (LDCT)  was removed in 1997 as part of a global concerted response to the human rights situation in that country (see SOR/97-398). In recent years, there have been positive developments in Burma, notably elections in 2010 that led to a transition to civilian rule, the release of polit¬ical prisoners, economic reforms, and the introduction of new laws to protect freedom of association and assembly.