Workshop held on inspection instructions, rules of origin

AMMAN — Better Work Jordan, with the support of the European Union (EU) on Thursday concluded an induction workshop on the Ministry of Labour’s inspection instructions for representatives of 14 authorised factories, benefitting from the simplified Rules of Origin (RoO), according to an EU statement.

The workshop brought together representatives from the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply and the Jordan Chamber of Industry and was organised as part of the second phase of the EU and the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) partnership to facilitate the ILO’s role in the monitoring of authorised companies under the EU-Jordan RoO Agreement, the statement said.

The agreement was signed in July 2016 in response to the Jordanian government’s commitment to create decent jobs for Jordanians and Syrian refugees under the Jordan Compact and in an effort to attract new investments and export more Jordanian products to the EU, according to the statement.

In July 2019, the Jordanian Ministry of Labour published the inspection instructions for factories all over Jordan that wish to benefit from the scheme, the statement said, adding that the instructions also identify the role of Better Work Jordan to assess and inspect these enterprises along with relevant national institutes, such as the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply.

“So far, eight companies have been exporting within the framework of the simplified rules of origin, where exports amounted to 26.28 million,” Yasmine Khreisat, Director of Industrial Development at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply was quoted in the statement as saying.

The workshop, attended by 14 representatives from companies in the chemical, plastic, engineering and garment sectors, discussed the inspection-related instructions and ways of future collaboration between relevant actors that can benefit from the decision to simplify the RoO both in terms of trade and of improving working conditions at the factory level, read the statement.

Data has shown that better working conditions often ultimately reflect positively on productivity, boost competitiveness among national manufacturers and help open new markets for Jordanian products, according to the statement.

Tareq Abu Qaoud, Better Work Jordan Country Programme Manager said in the statement that the programme is “on the verge of a leading step among Better Work Global country programmes as we are moving with our core services beyond the garment sector to the chemical, engineering and plastics manufacturing sectors”. 

The programme “will work to increase compliance in these industrial enterprises in accordance with Jordanian labour law and international labour standards,” he added.

Better Work Jordan is part of the joint ILO-International Finance Corporation global Better Work Programme, which aims to improve working conditions and promote competitiveness in Jordan’s apparel industry, the statement said.

Currently, 90 factories, which employ over 95 per cent of the sector’s 70,000-strong labour force, participate in the programme, according to the statement.