It’s a preferential tariff system in which the industrialized countries grant, without reciprocity, total or partial tariff preferences to exports of most developing countries.

The European Union grants this benefit to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Therefore, it constitutes an important instrument for trade promotion between Andean countries and the European Union, as well as an opportunity for the promotion of investment oriented to develop products that benefit preferential access to this market.

The communitarian scheme of generalized preferences has been periodically deferred since its origins, by a decennial joint revision. The main objective is offering a preferential customs tariff to developing countries, over duties applied to originating products from first-world countries