Govt agrees to comply with EU conditions to retain trade benefits

Bangladesh yesterday decided to amend the labour law and the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) law to comply with recommendations of the European Union (EU). After attending a meeting over labour law and BEPZA law at the Secretariat in Dhaka, Law Minister Annisul Huq said, “We’ve advanced much in labour law and BEPZA law, and the laws will be amended considering the interest of the country along with conditions given by the European Union as they are the largest buyer of our garments,” he said.“We have managed to come into a positive conclusion during today’s meeting of stakeholders, and the decision will be informed to the prime minister and experts committee of International Labour Conference (ILO),” the minister added.The laws will be introduced in parliament this winter, he added. Referring the labour’s right of trade union in Export Processing Zone (EPZ) area, the minister said the existing worker welfare association will work as trade union there. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque, representatives of the Bangladesh garment manufacturers and exporters association, Bangladesh knitwear manufacturers and exporters association and PM’s Office secretary Suraiya Begum were present in the meeting. Earlier, the EU called on Bangladesh to show tangible progress on labour rights to avoid temporarily losing the generalised system of preferences (GSP) benefit that allows the country duty-free export to the 28-nation economic bloc. “This will be essential for Bangladesh to remain eligible for the everything but arms regime,” said the EU in a letter to the government.The letter was sent to the secretaries of foreign, commerce and labour ministries, venting dissatisfaction as Bangladesh did not reply to its previous letter.Dhaka did not present any time-bound action plan in the compact meeting in order to address the ILO recommendations on labour rights, as was requested in the letter. “With regards to the preferences granted to Bangladesh under the EU’s GSP regulation, we would like to recall that Bangladesh needs to demonstrate, as a matter of urgency, that concrete and lasting measures are taken to ensure respect of fundamental human and labour rights,” the EU letter reads.“Without such progress, the EU will need to monitor the situation more closely in the context of the GSP regulation, including through a dedicated mission to Bangladesh. Such monitoring could eventually lead to the launching of a formal investigation, which could result in temporary withdrawal of preferences.”In fiscal 2015-16, Bangladesh exported goods worth $18.68bn to the EU, which was 54.57% of the total receipts for the year.