Team leaves for GSP hearing

A 14-member Bangladesh delegation led by Commerce Secretary left Dhaka for Washington on Monday to attend a crucial hearing on Mar 28 against a petition to revoke the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) facilities currently the country enjoys for US market access.

Before leaving Dhaka, Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told bdnews24.com that they were ‘optimistic’ about retaining the facility as they were ‘well-prepared.’

The hearing will be the final one on the influential American Federation of Labour-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) petition to the US government on Jun 22, 2007 to revoke Bangladesh’s GSP facility that allowed duty-free market access of some products, over concerns about labour conditions.

They demanded the cancellation of the facility alleging that there were inadequate protections for workers in the readymade garment factories and shrimp sectors.

The issues raised in the petition were constraints on workers’ ability to freely associate, harassment of labour organisers, refusal to register unions, firings of those seeking to create unions, and unsafe working conditions, among others.

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) where they filed the ‘worker rights petition’ accepted it for review on Sep 6, 2007 and placed Bangladesh under continued review to monitor the progress towards a set of worker rights benchmarks elaborated later.

The Secretary said they would highlight what they had done so far and what were in their pipeline.

“We have submitted written response on Jan 29 and Feb 14 for the final hearing,” he said and added that to retain the facility ‘we have fulfilled all I think’.

Earlier, Bangladesh participated at two hearings in Oct 2007 and Oct 2009.

But the AFL-CIO again submitted a petition in April 2011 saying progress remained elusive and a third hearing was held in Jan 2012.

After the hearing, the USTR said that the GSP facility to Bangladesh remained under review.

The AFL-CIO submitted a petition in Oct 2012 again mentioning that Bangladesh has not fulfilled the commitments relating to labour issues after the last hearing held in Jan 2012.

The USTR issued a notification on Jan 8, 2013 seeking public comments on the effect of possible withdrawal, suspension or limitation of GSP benefits on products imported into the US from Bangladesh before Jan 31.

Bangladesh sent its written comments on Jan 29 about the measures taken for the garment units' safety and ensuring labour rights.

In its latest comments submitted to USTR, the AFL-CIO complained about less progress in investigation of labour leader Aminul Islam murder case, government's reluctance to provide registration to the trade union in garment industry and shrimp processing plants, its not allowing trade union in EPZs and failure to ensure fire safety.

Without divulging details, the Commerce Secretary said they had answered all the concerns in their written response.

He said the issues of child labour in the shrimp sector which was also a concern had also been addressed.

The shrimp sector on Sunday inked an agreement with the Solidarity Centre which is an affiliate of AFL-CIO to promote labour standards in the sector which has been seen ‘a major step’ forward by the Secretary before the hearing.

Bangladesh is the biggest single exporter to the US, but the main export product – readymade garment – does not enjoy the duty-free facility.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh exported goods worth $24 billion to the US in 2011-12 fiscal, which is about 21 percent of the total exports and valued at around $5 billion.

In 2011, Bangladesh enjoyed the GSP facility for exporting products worth about $26.3 million. Items that enjoy the facility include tobacco products, sports gears, kitchen appliances and plastic products.

The US Ambassador to Dhaka Dan Mozena recently said the loss of GSP privileges would send ‘a strong, negative message’ to the global market.

Once removed from the facility, he feared ‘getting them restored would be a lengthy and arduous process’.

The Ambassador on Sunday, however, extolled Bangladesh for signing the agreement with the Solidarity Centre. He termed it ‘an important element’ of Bangladesh’s response to the concerns raised in the GSP petition.

He said: “Bangladesh has made clear its intent to deal effectively with the labour issues that have long constrained the industry.”

Eric Biel, the US Department of Labour’s Acting Associate Deputy Undersecretary for International Labour Affairs, during his visit to Dhaka last month was said to have been ‘impressed’ to see Dhaka’s ‘quality of engagement’ with Washington before the hearing.

The delegation for the 28th hearing includes representatives from the Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Home, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BGMEA, and BKMEA, among others.