950813

Labour issues start

threatening GSP benefits

in EC states also

MUZAFFAR QURESHI

KARACHI: The International Confedration of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), in a complaint to the European Commission, has demanded suspension of benefits to Pakistan under the existing Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) arrangements because of bonded labour, sources close to the Ministry to Commerce revealed.

Ministry sources disclosed that the US Government has placed Pakistan on the watch list and it has warned the Pakistan Government that it should improve its labour rights. The situation has been further aggravated following the murder of Iqbal Masih and with the coming to the forefront once again of the issue of child/bonded labour.

Sources said that the Pakistan Government was making all diplomatic efforts to defend its case before the European Commission. The government has written letters to its embassies abroad directing them to take up the matter with the concerned governments and also to take the foreign media into confidence about the measures taken by Pakistan to eliminate child and bonded labour.

The Ministry of Commerce is busy evolving a Rug Mark System which will include issuance of certificates to the effect that our carpets are not the product of child labour.

Under the new GSP scheme for Europe, the duty on carpets has been increased from 9 percent to 80 percent. Carpets, which were hitherto classified as a product of the cottage industry, have been placed in textile category.

The Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association, in a letter to the Export Promotion Bureau, has vehemently protested over the enhancement of duty on carpets under the revised GSP scheme for Europe. It has also protested to the European Commission for treating hand-knotted carpet as a textile product and has apprehended that the move of the European Commission, which is a great exponent of labour rights, will result in rendering thousands of workers jobless.

The US government, which is also pressurizing Pakistan to improve its labour conditions, has not yet announced the extension of its GSP scheme which expired on July 31, 1995. Sources at the GSP section in the Export Promotion Bureau told Business Recorder that there was yet no word from the US Government about the continuation or otherwise of the scheme. The department, however, continues to issue Certificates of Origin under the GSP scheme for the US, they added.