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Regaining GSP

Work on action plan goes slow

REFAYET ULLAH MlRDHA
Bangladesh's work towards getting the suspension of GSP benefits in the US market lifted in December has been rather slow, raising questions whether it could at all be done in the next four months.
The suspension comes into effect on September 3.
The suspension of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) privilege for Bangladesh was decided on June 27, following at least two major industrial disasters. The country was given two months before the suspension came into effect.
From September 3, the United States Trade Representative would monitor Bangladesh's progress and review in December whether the GSP privilege could be given back to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh had been working on an action plan, prescribed by the Obama administration, to regain the GSP status in the review.
Ensuring workers safety, their full freedom to join unions, and labour and EPZ laws reform, a database of factories, and withdrawal of a few cases against workers are among the major things Bangladesh has to get done to get the GSP status back.
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"Regaining the GSP status in December review is very unlikely as the government's activities towards the US action plan are still sluggish," said AKM Nasim, senior legal counsellor of Solidarity Centre, a USbased rights group in Bangladesh.
People in the industries sector said the progress made so far by different ministries and departments was not enough to convince the United States Trade Representative to give Bangladesh its GSP status back during its review.
Nasim claimed that the labour law amendment, which was passed in parliament on July 15, was not acceptable to many as the workers' rights were undermined in the new law.
Moreover, the restructuring of the laws for the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) had also not made much headway, Nasim said, adding that the full freedom of workers to join unions had
not been ensured.
The government was yet to create a publicly available database of all readymade garment factories which would mention if a factory was compliant with regulations regarding labour, fire and building.
However, the rules for trade union registrations had been relaxed, cases against two labour leaders were withdrawn, and the labour leader Aminul Islam murder case was shifted to the Criminal Investigation Department for probe.
But the Ministry of Labour and Employment is yet to employ 200 factory inspectors, a basic requirement for regainingthe GSP.
Commerce Minister GM Quader said only two months have gone after the suspension of the benefit was decided. "We are trying to make progress under the US action plan. 1 am hopeful Bangladesh will regain the GSP in the December review. We have four
months in our hand to deal with the matter," he said.
To expedite the activities of the action plan, the high-powered ministerial committee on ready-made garment would review the progresses made by the government in a meeting on September 1, Quader told The Daily Star over the phone.
An official of the commerce ministry said little progress in improving workers' working conditions and labour rights might affect the GSP status in the European Union (EU) as well.
The official requesting not to be named said the EU was also monitoring the progress as it signed a Compact Agreement in Geneva on July 8, involving the Bangladesh government, the EU and the International Labour Organisation.
The agreement is about improving labour rights and their working conditions.