Human rights scrutiny under the EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences: The Uzbek cotton industry as a case study

Uzbekistan is one of the countries benefiting from the EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), which provides preferential tariffs for various sectors of the Uzbek economy, including the state-managed cotton industry accused for years of deploying forced and child labour. Ongoing negotiations between the EU and Uzbekistan for a more beneficial arrangement for Uzbekistan (GSP+) offer a good case study of the ways in which the EU can assess the human rights implications of GSP+ arrangements. This chapter explores the EU framework establishing the requirements for Uzbekistan to be awarded such benefit, and the functioning of the mechanisms to monitor compliance with those requirements. It argues that the EU should incorporate human rights impact assessment in the examination of the Uzbek request for a GSP+ arrangement and that reports from civil society should play a more important role in EU monitoring of Uzbek compliance with GSP+ requirements.