Qualifying industrial zone
[1] Goods produced in QIZ-designated areas in Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian territories can directly access U.S. markets without tariff or quota restrictions, subject to certain conditions.
[3][4] The first QIZ, Al-Hassan Industrial Estate in Irbid in northern Jordan, was authorized to export Stateside by the U.S. Trade Representative in March 1998.
He was also interested in business ventures that could take advantage of the eight-year-old free trade agreement between the United States and Israel that allowed Israeli goods to enter the US markets duty-free.
Salah had envisioned that by exploiting Israeli resources such as labor, finances, and contacts, and then leveraging it to produce value-added goods, the economy of Jordan would be benefited.
In the agreement, the areas on the border between Israel and Jordan were designated as "qualifying industrial zones", and goods produced here would not have tariff and quota restrictions to the US markets.
Since the Hassan industrial estate in Irbid, where Salah had factories located, was situated far from the bordering areas, it did not qualify for QIZ status.
[1] On 6 March 1998, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) designated the Al-Hassan Industrial Estate in the northern city of Irbid as the first QIZ.
The success of QIZ have led to the United States and Jordan signing a Free Trade Agreement in 2001 that was approved by the US Congress.
The reason for this dominance is that QIZ products enter the United States free of duty, whereas, under the US–Jordan FTA, tariffs will not be eliminated until the end of the ten-year phase-in period, in 2011.
The flood of similar articles from these two nations to the United States could edge out Egyptian exports, and possibly result in the loss of 150,000 job opportunities.
[10] Further, Egypt was in search of sources for increased economic growth and trade to provide jobs for its rapidly growing labor force.
[2] Positive results from the Jordanian led to the Government of Egypt negotiating a QIZ protocol in Cairo on 24 December 2004 that came into effect in February 2005.
[2] The protocol signed between the two nations is a non-reciprocal arrangement and is expected to be a step towards the establishment of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
However, traditional attitudes toward a woman's place in the home persist, and many families continue to prohibit female members from working in QIZs.
(See Women in Jordan) In response, the Jordanian Ministry of Labor has worked to ease the adjustment of women moving from the home to a new job by providing free transportation to work, subsidizing the cost of food in QIZs, paying for dormitories near factories to cut commuting times[2] and providing childcare.
[12] The long-term effect of female employment in QIZs are yet to be quantified, and there is some concern that over time, Jordanian women may have difficulty in achieving higher wages in a global economy where apparel manufacturers can easily relocate to cheaper labor markets.
Since the conclusion of the Jordan–Israel peace treaty in October 1994, large numbers of Jordanians, particularly fundamentalists, those of Palestinian origin, and members of the professional unions continue to oppose normalization with Israel and resist the expansion of commercial relations.
A comprehensive report by the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights found that Sri Lankan migrant workers were subject to "routine sexual abuse and rape.
