A joint staff working document published by the European Commission on 16 July 2026 assesses Kyrgyzstan's compliance with the EU's Special Incentive Arrangement for Sustainable Development and Good Governance (GSP+) for the period 2023-2025, finding progress on social rights and anti-corruption but serious backsliding on civic space, media freedom, torture prevention, and labour rights. The assessment accompanies the Commission's joint report to the European Parliament and the Council on the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) covering 2023-2025.
Kyrgyzstan has benefited from GSP+ since 2016, and in 2024 nearly all its EU imports entered duty-free. However, the GSP+ utilisation rate dropped sharply from 61.2% in 2022 to 29.8% in 2024. The EU-Kyrgyzstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), signed on 25 June 2024, awaits ratification; provisional application will start once Kyrgyzstan notifies the EU.
Kyrgyzstan lifted the moratorium on unannounced labour inspections, adopted a new anti-corruption strategy, strengthened domestic violence legislation, and opened a One Stop Service Centre for victims in May 2024. However, serious concerns include the dissolution of the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture (NCPT) in 2025, restrictive laws on media (August 2025), religion (February 2025), and 'Foreign Representatives' (April 2024), and 114 criminal prosecutions against individuals linked to freedom of expression between 2022 and 2026. The president proposed reinstating the death penalty in December 2025, but the Constitutional Court ruled it unconstitutional and legally impossible. A draft bill banning legal gender recognition passed its first reading on 4 June 2026.
The assessment identifies key priorities for Kyrgyzstan to maintain GSP+ eligibility: protect civic space and media freedom, reform torture prevention and criminal justice, empower the Labour Inspectorate, and implement anti-corruption plans. Failure to reverse restrictions on civil society, media, and torture prevention, and to fully enforce labour and anti-corruption commitments, could put continued GSP+ benefits at risk.