COLOMBO: The European Union has formally restored the Generalised Scheme of Preference Plus (GSP+) trade concessions to Sri Lanka seven years after it was suspended over human rights related concerns.

Sri Lanl(a`s Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha De Silva confirmed in a message that the EU Council of Ministers has approved Sri Lanka`s GSP+ application which would be effective in less than two weeks.

`It`s now done. Effective in less than two weeks,` De Silva said on his official twitter account.

The government`s Information Department further confirmed that the EU Foreign Affairs Council has approved GSP+ for Sri Lanka.

The department said the EU approval completes the three procedural requirements for Sri Lanka to receive GSP+ status and the of ficial notification will be finalised in the coming week.

The long awaited decision by the EU comes in the aftermath of a motion taken up in the EU Parliament to not grant Sri Lanka the GSP+ being defeated last month.

The motion was defeated by 436 members voting against it and 119 in favor.

Sri Lanl(a`s apparel sector, a key foreign revenue earner for the island, was harshly affected as a result of losing access to the EU GSP+ trade concessions in 2009.

In granting the GSP+ facility, the EU`s Foreign Af fairs Council has stated that Sri Lanka has ratified and implemented measures contained in a number of international conventions on human and labor rights, environment protectionand good governance.

`On this basis, Sri Lanka has become eligible to receive additional tariff preferences for sustainable development and good governance, in addition to the generalised scheme of tariff preferences benefitting to all developing countries,` the Council said on Thursday.