The EU gives reason to Italy, damage caused by Burma-Cambodia rice

BRUSSELS – The European Commission is right about Italian rice producers: duty-free imports from Cambodia and Burma have caused economic damage, a country for which the law may soon be reinstated. These are the conclusions of the inquiry launched last March by the European executive, which will now propose, with 28 votes, the resumption of customs duties for the two Asian countries. This is reported by EU sources. The survey was launched by the European Commission at the request submitted last February by Italy, the EU's largest rice producer, with the support of seven other countries (France, Spain, Greece , Portugal, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria). The aim was to determine whether imports of rice-free rice from Cambodia and Burma – allowed by the EU's trade preference scheme "anything but arms" for the poorest countries – caused serious difficulties for European producers in 2012-2017.

The "everything but arms" regime has actually allowed Cambodia and Burma to exponentially increase textiles and rice exports to the EU. According to data presented by Ente Risi in Brussels last January, the boom in rice imports comes mainly from Phnom Penh, with capital inflows increasing by 822% (from 27 000 to 249 000 tonnes). ) from 2012 to 2017. Cambodia and Burma are also at the center of a European Commission investigation into repeated violations of human rights, an investigation that could lead to the suspension of all EU trade preferences. .

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