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Bangladesh : Appeal For Waiving Quota Penalty Rejected |
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2003-9-10
Bangladesh''s appeal for waiving quota penalty worth 50 million US
dollars for over-shipment of apparel in 2002 has been rejected by the United States.
US trade representative Robert B Zoellick in a recent letter to
Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Amir Khoshru Mahmud Chowdhury said that the United States cannot compromise or it would be impossible to explain a waiver like this to the US textile industry or to the other countries that have abided by their quotas.
The letter came after Khoshru in June wrote to the US trade
representative, asking for waiver of the penalty imposed on some 200 Bangladeshi leading Readymade Garment (RMG) exporters for their over-shipment.
A total of 175,000 dozen pairs of cotton trousers in two exporting
categories shipped beyond allocated quota were seized by the US authority in 2002, and 200 Bangladeshi exporters were involved in the over-shipment.
The US authority released the goods following an agreement reached between Dhaka and Washington that the double amount of the seized RMG beyond quota equal to 350,000 dozen pairs would be deducted from the following year''s export limit to Bangladesh as a penalty.
Zoellick in his letter regretted the penalty that caused a loss to
Bangladesh, and expressed his hope that Bangladesh would expand its export base to prepare for the expiry of the quota system after 2004.
The RMG is the main export item of Bangladesh and over 40 percent of its export in around 20 categories goes to the United States.
The US allocates quota in January each year and it completes in Dec. 31. The allocated quota in RMG sector for export to United States in 2003 is fixed at 3.9 million dozen pairs.
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