Officials in Bangladesh are worried that any delay in forming of rules on labour law could be a crucial issue when top officials of the Sustainability Compact review progress in workplace safety of the country’s apparel sector. Top officials and representatives from the European Union (EU), US, Canada, the Netherlands, the UK and ILO will be present at the second review meeting scheduled to be held in Dhaka in November.

According to those involved in the process, Bangladesh apparently has failed to comply with some important conditions of the Compact. This includes formulation of rules to implement the labour law and extend those to the export processing zones (EPZ) or making necessary changes in the existing EPZ law, and completion of factory inspection.

Some requirements were met by the government, which included appointing 200 additional inspectors and launched publicly accessible database. However, it failed to formulate rules even two years after the law was amended and finalise the new EPZ law till date. The EU published a technical status report on the Compact, recently, which termed the adoption of the rules as a matter of ‘highest priority’.

A senior government official, when questioned, said that so far, the government has met all the requirements except the formulation of the rules, which might be the 'hot' issue in the upcoming review meeting of Compact.

Sources, though, believe that nay further delay in meeting condition might result in an unfavourable effect on the efforts to revive the GSP in the US market and continue enjoying the same benefit in the EU market.