Rules finalised to implement new labour law

The government yesterday finalised the rules for application of the amended labour law of 2013 and fulfil a condition to win back the GSP (generalised system of preferences) status in the US market.

The rules were finalised at a meeting between the government and entrepreneurs of  different industrial sectors, at the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry in Dhaka, with its minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain in the chair.

The rules will now be used to implement the labour law in factories, as the clauses in the laws have been explained.

“The rules will be published within the next two weeks, as all the three parties -- the labour leaders, owners and the government -- agreed to finalise the rules,” Hossain told journalists after the meeting.

“We do not need to pass the rules in the cabinet. We need the vetting from the law ministry to publish the rules,” he said.

Tofail Ahmed, commerce minister, said, “With the finalisation of the rules to implement the amended labour law, we have fulfilled all the 16 conditions to regain the GSP status in the US market.”

After the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in 2013, the government amended the labour law in parliament on July 15 the same year, allowing full freedom of association by the workers in the factories.

The US government had suspended the GSP for Bangladesh in June 2013, within two months of the building collapse. 

In addition to suspending the trade privilege, the US government laid 16 conditions that have to be fulfilled to regain the status.

However, the GSP is currently suspended for all beneficiary countries since July 31, 2013.

Bangladesh has already submitted the progress report on the 16 conditions and hopes the country will regain the status once it is re-launched in the US market.

Leaders from Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Employers' Federation were also present at the meeting.