EC binds public procurement with labour conditions

“Brussels is considering the introduction of corporate social responsibility requirements for companies bidding in public procurement tenders,” said Franz Pitnik, Managing Director of the Association of the Austrian Textile, Clothing, Shoe and Leather Industry, at an international forum on counteracting the grey economy. According to him, in November 2010, the European Commission (EC) introduced a standard, requiring observance of social and environmental labour legislation, but employers in the sector believe that it will complicate procedures.

Bulgaria ranks along with India, China, Turkey, Thailand and Sri Lanka in terms of non-observance of social labour conditions. “Although child labour is forbidden and not common practice in Bulgaria, there are frequent cases of compulsory work on weekends, remuneration below the minimum wage set in the country and dangerous working conditions in the Textiles and Clothing industry,” said Antoaneta Zahova from TUF Rheinland - Bulgaria. According to the participants in the forum, the grey economy problem is comprehensive for the entire Balkan region. Moreover, there is a recent trend for the redirection of large-scale producers of clothing from Asia to the Balkans. Bulgarian companies produce uniforms for the police and the armed forces of Germany and Austria.

As a result of violations in the conduct of public procurement tenders in the 1998-2011 period, Bulgaria suffered losses exceeding BGN 976 mln, reported Investor.bg, citing an analysis of the Institute for Market Economics. According to economists, losses are the funds spent illegally or those which have not brought any positive result, and there is clear evidence of this or findings of the Audit Office. In 13.4% of the Audit Office reports economists identified net losses resulting from incorrectly used funds and 26.5% of the cases have been classified as ‘failures’.

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