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Malmstrom said the mission to Myanmar was to look into a
potential withdrawal of its "Everything but Arms" (EBA) status,
which allows the world's poorest countries to sell any goods
tariff-free into the EU, except weapons.
"We cannot exclude this outcome. The reason is the blatant
violation of human rights in Myanmar," she told a news
conference after a meeting of trade ministers in Innsbruck,
Austria.
The move confirms news Reuters reported on Wednesday that the
European Union was considering sanctioning Myanmar over the
Rohingya crisis.
A recent U.N. report accused Myanmar's military of gang rapes
and mass killings with "genocidal intent" in Rakhine state and
called for its commander-in-chief and five generals to be
prosecuted under international law.
Myanmar has denied most of the allegations in the report,
blaming Rohingya "terrorists" for most accounts of atrocities.
On Cambodia, the EU said in July that it risked losing its
preferential trade status after elections decried by the West as
neither free nor fair returned the country's strongman to power
after 30 years in office.
Malmstrom said an EU mission had already been to Cambodia. "I
have notified Cambodia today that we will launch the procedure
for withdrawal of EBA. Without clear and demonstrable
improvements this will lead to suspension of trade preferences,"
she said.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott and Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by
Mark Heinrich)
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