The EU Commission's GSP+ review found some progress in Pakistan's reform journey but much remains to be done

The European Union’s latest assessment of Pakistan under its Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) framework offers observations that merit careful consideration in Islamabad. It also deserves to be read in full.

Published in July, the European Commission’s assessment of Pakistan’s performance during 2023–2025 is not an unqualified endorsement. It draws attention to several areas that would benefit from continued focus, including the implementation of labour laws, safeguards for freedom of expression, issues relating to enforced disappearances, minority rights, judicial independence and mechanisms for addressing human rights concerns. While progress in several areas deserves recognition, these matters also merit careful consideration and sustained institutional attention.

But the opposite mistake is equally possible: to read the report as if Pakistan made little or no progress during the monitoring period. That would also be an incomplete account of what the European Commission actually found.

Why it matters

The purpose of GSP+ is to give developing countries preferential access to the European market in return for commitments to implement 27 international conventions covering human rights, labour rights, environmental protection and good governance. Pakistan has benefited from the arrangement since 2014 and remains its largest beneficiary. In 2024, EU imports from Pakistan amounted to €8.3 billion, of which around €7.5 billion were eligible for GSP+ preferences. Pakistan received an estimated €732 million in tariff exemptions that year.

That commercial relationship matters. But GSP+ is not simply a tariff concession, nor should it be viewed as a pass-or-fail examination in which every institutional challenge is treated as evidence of non-compliance. Its underlying logic is to encourage countries to improve their governance over time.

The European Commission notes that Pakistan maintained ratification of all 27 relevant conventions and made no new reservations. It also largely complied with reporting obligations to the relevant international monitoring bodies and continued to engage with the EU’s own GSP+ monitoring process.

More importantly, there were concrete changes.

An ongoing reform process

Pakistan’s continued engagement with the GSP+ monitoring framework, maintenance of all 27 convention ratifications and broad compliance with reporting obligations reflect a sustained commitment to the scheme. The legislative and institutional measures undertaken at the federal and provincial levels deserve recognition as meaningful contributions to Pakistan’s continuing reform process.

The country narrowed the scope of the death penalty by removing four offences. No executions have taken place since December 2019. A National Prison Reform Action Plan and dedicated task force were established, alongside training programmes and a grievance mechanism. These measures do not, by themselves, resolve every challenge facing Pakistan’s prisons and criminal justice system. They nevertheless represent constructive steps towards gradual improvement.

Then there were advances concerning women’s rights. The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill for Islamabad Capital Territory filled an important legislative gap, while a first conviction for marital rape in Sindh in 2024 represented a significant development with wider symbolic value. Pakistan also launched a national strategy addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

The record on children reflects areas of progress alongside continuing challenges. Pakistan abolished child marriage for Christian communities through the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024, while Islamabad and Balochistan subsequently adopted legislation criminalising child marriage. A nationwide education emergency was announced in 2024, followed by an education action plan, with provincial authorities reporting the reopening of schools, teacher recruitment and expanded infrastructure.

Labour rights offer perhaps the clearest illustration of the importance of translating legislative and policy commitments into effective implementation. Pakistan ratified the 2014 Protocol to the ILO Forced Labour Convention in March 2025. Provinces adopted action plans to eliminate child labour, while most also improved their evidence base through child-labour surveys using ILO methodology. Pakistan also published a gender pay-gap study and developed a wage-reform action plan.

The European assessment nevertheless underscores that effective implementation remains essential. Forced labour and child labour continue to require sustained attention, even as progress has been recorded in some respects. The assessment also points to practical and financial difficulties that can affect workers’ access to mechanisms for enforcing rights already guaranteed under law.

A similarly balanced approach is needed when considering the broader human rights situation. The Commission’s assessment identifies issues relating to enforced disappearances, media freedoms and freedom of expression, minority rights and judicial independence as areas that would benefit from continued attention, improved safeguards and further institutional strengthening.

These findings merit a considered policy response and sustained institutional attention.

Acknowledging areas requiring improvement does not require overlooking reform. Indeed, the most useful way to read the EU assessment is to recognise that both things can be true at once: Pakistan can make meaningful institutional and legislative progress even as implementation remains uneven and further work is required in other areas.

That is precisely why the distinction between legislation, institutions and implementation matters.

What next for Pakistan

Establishing a human rights institution is an important step, although its effectiveness ultimately depends on implementation. At the same time, sustained improvement is difficult without institutions, laws, monitoring mechanisms and administrative capacity.

Pakistan therefore has an important implementation agenda ahead. The European Commission has identified priorities including stronger enforcement of labour laws, continued efforts to address forced and child labour, improved protection of minorities, better safeguards for freedom of expression, further prison and capital-punishment reform, more effective accountability mechanisms for human rights concerns and continued strengthening of anti-corruption institutions.

This agenda need not be viewed as an external checklist imposed on Pakistan. It broadly corresponds to Pakistan’s own stated interests. Better access to justice benefits businesses and workers alike. Protecting journalists and civil society strengthens the information available to policymakers. Improving schools and vocational training expands the productive capacity of the economy. Strong institutions also make decision-making more consistent and predictable for citizens and investors alike.

This is also where the economic logic of GSP+ deserves more attention.

Pakistan’s preferential access to the European market has created an important commercial stake in maintaining and improving standards. The EU remains Pakistan’s largest export market, accounting for 28 per cent of its total exports in 2024. GSP+ utilisation reached 95.1pc that year. Textiles and clothing dominate the relationship, making the scheme particularly important to Pakistan’s labour-intensive manufacturing economy.

The broader lesson is that preferential access and principled scrutiny need not be viewed as opposing objectives. Trade and institutional reform can reinforce one another.

That is the opportunity Pakistan and the EU should preserve.

The forthcoming evolution of the GSP framework makes continued engagement particularly important. Pakistan should use the period ahead to consolidate legislative commitments and translate them into measurable progress, particularly in areas where the European assessment calls for sustained attention. The EU, for its part, should continue to use the GSP+ as an instrument of constructive engagement, combining scrutiny with dialogue and technical cooperation while maintaining a broader view of Pakistan’s reform trajectory.

A serious assessment should therefore consider legislative and policy commitments alongside their implementation, while also recognising that unresolved challenges do not negate the reforms already undertaken.

That is ultimately what the GSP+ should be about: supporting the translation of legislation into effective practice, recognising that institutional reform requires time, and creating incentives for sustained improvement.

For Pakistan, the priority now is to consolidate the reforms recorded during the last monitoring period and translate them into sustained improvements in everyday governance. For the European Union, the priority is to ensure that its trade policy remains capable of encouraging that process.

Both sides have an interest in getting that balance right.