Administration Publishes Action Plan for Reinstatement of GSP Benefits for Bangladesh
The Obama Administration published the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) action plan provided to the government of Bangladesh for the possible reinstatement of its trade benefits, according to a joint statement by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the Department of Labor and State Department. USTR, which had previously discussed the plan only in broad outlines (see 13071613), said that making the action plan public was “a means to reinforce and support the efforts of all international stakeholders to promote improved worker rights and worker safety in Bangladesh.” The joint statement also said that the U.S. would join forces with the European Union, Bangladesh and the International Labor Organization (ILO) to implement goals from the Sustainability Compact, which are broadly consistent with the published GSP Action Plan.
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The Administration urges Bangladesh to implement commitments under the “National Tripartite Plan of Action on Fire Safety and Structural Integrity,” USTR said. In addition, Bangladesh should take specific actions towards government inspections for labor, fire and building standards. These actions include increasing fines and other sanctions, including loss of import and export licenses, for failure to comply with labor, fire or building standards “to levels sufficient to deter future violations,” USTR said. Action plans for export processing zones (EPZ) including issuing regulations to ensure transparent enforcement of the existing EPZ law and beginning “the repeal or overhaul of the EPZ law, in coordination with ILO,” USTR reported.
The plan also outlined actions for the ready made garments (RMG) and knitwear sector, including the implementation of labor law reforms to address concerns regarding labor union registration applications and unfair labor practice complaints. Similar actions were listed for the shrimp processing sector as well, according to the USTR statement.
The full published action plan can be found (here).