How long does duty-free access last? transition to 2029
Bangladesh currently enters the EU duty-free and quota-free under Everything But Arms, the arrangement for least developed countries. Bangladesh graduates from LDC status in November 2026, and the duty-free access continues through a transition to around the end of 2029. After that it depends on qualifying for another arrangement, most likely GSP+, which is not automatic.
Full answer — the grounds, the numbers, the pitfalls
Whether a preference actually applies is decided per product by the origin rule in the agreement, not by where the goods were shipped from. Rules of origin works that through, and the goods code decides which rule you are under. A claim without valid proof is recovered from the importer, three years back, with interest.
Source: Everything But Arms under the EU GSP; UN LDC graduation of Bangladesh, November 2026;
Regulation (EU) 2026/1395 (new GSP scheme), applicable from 1 January 2027.
Checked: 5 September 2026.
I export garments to the EU. Do I need an EU Responsible Person?
If you sell to EU consumers: yes; the Responsible Person requirement applies to every consumer product. If you sell B2B to an EU buyer who imports: your buyer is the importer and carries that role; but they will ask you for the documents that let them comply.
What REACH rules hit garments hardest?
Restricted substances in the fabric: azo dyes that release certain amines, formaldehyde, certain phthalates in prints and softeners. Every EU buyer tests for these; a failed test means the order is returned, not just discounted.
Who carries the compliance duties; the factory or the buyer?
Under GPSR, the duty sits with whoever places the product on the EU market; usually the EU buyer who imports. But commercially the buyer passes the requirements back to the factory: test reports, substance declarations, technical file content. A supplier who cannot produce them loses the order.
What has to be on a garment label for the EU?
Fibre composition, and it is its own regulation.
Regulation (EU) 1007/2011 requires the fibre names and percentages by weight, using only the fibre names in its Annex I, on a label or marking that is durable, easily legible and attached to the product; the information must be in the language of the member state where the garment is made available. Trade names and descriptions like 'cotton feel' do not replace it, and a percentage that is wrong is a non-conformity, not a rounding. On top of that comes the GPSR labelling: manufacturer and Responsible Person name and address, and an identifier for the specific product. Two separate label requirements, routinely confused, both checked by the same importer.
What changes for us on 14 December 2027?
Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 starts applying. It prohibits placing on the EU market, making available on it, or exporting from it any product made with forced labour, for every product and every origin, with no threshold and no certificate that buys an exemption. Member state authorities and the Commission investigate; a decision can order a product withdrawn and disposed of, which lands on the whole order, not on one shipment. It also applies to goods already sitting in an EU warehouse on that date. What an exporter can do now is unglamorous and slow: know which sites, including subcontracted units, actually made the goods, and be able to demonstrate it on request rather than assert it.