Reden daarvoor was het feit dat ontwikkelingslanden die niet tot de ACS-landen behoorden en behoren, bij de Wereldhandelsorganisatie (WTO) hadden geklaagd dat de Europese Unie de ACS-landen bijzondere privileges toekende. ###>The background to this was that developing countries that were not, and are not, in the ACP Group of States complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the European Union was according the ACP States special privileges.