BY DANIEL GUMM

THE European Commission has launched the new version of the Export Helpdesk, a free one-stop-shop online service to businesses in developing countries on how to export to the European Union.

The Export Helpdesk, created in 2004, captures in concrete terms an example of the EU’s commitment to facilitating trade with developing countries.

Available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, the Export Helpdesk aims to support those countries most in need, particularly on information on EU requirements, taxes, tariffs, preferential arrangements, rules of origin, and statistics that apply to their products.

Besides keeping the website regularly updated, the European Commission said the Export helpdesk team would be organising regular capacity-building trainings in the field.

The desk provides the full list of requirements a product needs to fulfill to enter the EU market; calculates the import tariff applying to different products and provides a preferential tariff that applies in specific cases; provides a list of useful contacts in the EU, such as relevant public bodies and chambers of commerce; helps market research by providing detailed statistics on EU trade flows product-by-product and explains the preferential trade agreements applying to cases and how to prove the origin of your product.