The Bangladesh Sustainability Compact: an effective exercise of global experimentalist EU governance?

Kenner, Jeff; Peake, Katrina

Abstract

The calamitous Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 focused international attention on labour rights’ violations and factory safety in Bangladesh’s dominant ready-made garment industry which is almost wholly dependent on exports to the EU. In response, the EU and the ILO launched the Bangladesh Sustainability Compact, with the core objective of promoting continuous improvement in labour rights and factory safety in the industry. The uniqueness of the Compact stems from its nature as a form of experimentalist governance involving both governmental and non-governmental actors. Being primarily an EU-led initiative based on balancing trade, sustainable development and human rights’ objectives, it is underpinned by the possible option, if the Compact fails, of withdrawing trade preferences. This article will examine the rationale for the Compact, its main features, and its effectiveness as a form of ‘global experimentalist governance’.

Citation

Kenner, J., & Peake, K. (in press). The Bangladesh Sustainability Compact: an effective exercise of global experimentalist EU governance?. " The Cambridge yearbook of European legal studies", https://doi.org/10.1017/cel.2017.3

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 13, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Aug 17, 2017
• Deposit Date: Nov 15, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 15, 2017
• Journal: Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies
• Print ISSN: 1528-8870
• Electronic ISSN: 2049-7636
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/cel.2017.3
• Keywords: labour rights, trade, sustainable development, European Union, Bangladesh,; Compact, ready-made garments, global experimentalist governance
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/878249
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-yearbook-of-european-legal-studies/article/bangladesh-sustainability-compact-an-effective-exercise-of-global-experimentalist-eu-governance/59F080EAD23A1B94DCB3AD610EF9491A
• Additional Information: This article has been published in a revised form in Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies ; https://doi.org/10.1017/cel.2017.3. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Centre for European Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge.