Generalised System of Preferences

FTA / RoO

Preferential tariff scheme offered unilaterally by developed countries to developing countries.

Sources

1. World Trade Organization — Glossary: a guide to “WTO speak” wto.org accessed 23 September 2026

The WTO glossary defines GSP as “programmes by developed countries granting preferential tariffs to imports from developing countries”. Note the plural: these are programmes, not a programme. Each granting country sets its own scheme — its own product coverage, its own margins, its own graduation rules and its own conditions — so “GSP treatment” means nothing until the granting country is named. The preferences are also unilateral rather than negotiated, which means they can be narrowed or withdrawn by the granting country in a way that treaty-based preferences cannot. Anyone planning around GSP should treat the benefit as a policy choice of the importing country, revocable on its terms.

What a glossary settles, and what it does not. The WTO’s glossary is the organisation’s own plain-language guide to its vocabulary, so it is authoritative for what the term means in WTO usage. It is not the legal text. Where an obligation is at stake, the operative words are in the agreement the glossary points to — GATT, GATS, TRIPS and the rest — and those are what a panel would read. Use the glossary to know what is being discussed, and the agreement to know what is owed.

Related terms

• Absorption Principle
• Bilateral Cumulation
• Certificate of Origin
• Change in Tariff Classification
• Cumulation
• Diagonal Cumulation

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).