EU threaten GSP suspension!

Three European Commission bodies have issued a joint letter to the Bangladesh embassy in Brussels last week stating that the government needs to take further steps to implement the four recommendations made by the ILO last year, a failure to do so would result in suspension of trade privileges enjoyed under the GSP. If the EU goes through with it, Bangladesh stands to lose the zero-duty access to its market and the impact on our principal export – RMG – would be most severe as shipments to the common European market would be subject to 12.5 percent duty.

According to the EU, the caveat of 30 percent workers' signatures before forming a trade union is an impediment. The alleged widespread harassment and violence against trade unions is another issue flagged by it. The government stance is that this is not entirely true, and thatmuch has changed since the Rana Plaza disaster and labour standards have improved considerably with the government working with major stakeholders including the BGMEA and international bodies like the ILO.

At the end of the day, there appears to be serious gap in information between the EU and ILO on one side and the government and BGMEA on the other. While the ILO has expressed concerns over recent allegations of acts of violence and harassment against trade unions in its latest update in February, it is up to BGMEA and the government to communicate effectively to EU, precisely what changes have occurred since last year when an agreement was reached on ILO's recommendations. Sitting back is not really an option here since the EU market represents 65 percent of all RMG exports and Bangladesh earned USD 18.68 billion over the last fiscal to EU which represents 54.57 percent of total exports. There is need for urgent discussion between all the stake holders to resolve the matter.