Law Minister Anisul Huq told the International Labour Organization (ILO) that the process for amending the Bangladesh Labour Law will be completed by the middle of 2023, and the amended law will be applicable even in the economic zones to ensure rights and better work environment for workers.

"The process for amending the labour law has started as the next phase of legal reforms and amendment of proposals have so far been received from 17 stakeholders. The triparty working group is working on compiling the proposals with very importance,"he said this while addressing the 346th conference of the ILO's governing body in Geneva of Switzerland last night (November 8, 2022), a law ministry press release said today.

The law minister is leading the Bangladesh delegation at the conference which started on October 31.

"The triparty labour law review committee will discuss and analyse the compiled recommendations and will then seek approval from the national triparty advisory council. I hope the process for amending the labour law will be completed in the middle of 2023, and then the amended law will be applicable even in the economic zones too in Bangladesh," he said.        

He told the conference that there are some confusions about which law—Bangladesh Labour Law or Bangladesh Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Labour Law—will be applicable in newly established Bangladesh economic zones.

The amended Bangladesh Labour Law will be applicable in the economic zones, he categorically said. 

The law minister said the Bangladesh government has done notable progress in implementing the roadmap seven months after it submitted the report before the ILO governing body's conference in March this year.

"The government is trying to protect the progress in four clusters of the roadmap in order improve the labour condition in Bangladesh," he said.

Minister Anisul Huq also said the trade union registration process of Bangladesh has completely been made digitised to ensure more accountability and transparency.       

Meanwhile, the law minister met with the newly appointed UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk in Geneva on Tuesday and has expressed the Bangladesh government's commitment to work more closely with the UNRHC on the Digital Security Act and human rights in Bangladesh.