Conference Agenda

Over the last decade, there have been major attempts to radically reshape the structure of labour law in several South Asian jurisdictions. The objective has been to consolidate and modernize the fragmented, inconsistent and often obsolete laws which reflect the area’s British colonial legacy. For example, India has enacted new labour codes and Pakistan’s provinces are also debating draft labour codes. In both cases, the International Labour Organization has urged that the new codes reflect its fundamental Conventions.

Systematic reform has, however, proved difficult. The challenges include: increasing the scope of the laws beyond the small fraction of workers they currently cover; improving consistency of the substantive provisions, and, creating more robust methods of implementation, especially given the relatively low number of inspectors and delays within the formal dispute resolution systems.This presentation focuses on the first of these challenges.

The presentation reflects the experience of three labour law scholars who have been extensively involved with the reform process in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the capacity of international advisors. Our core research question is: how does the legal terminology which continues to be deployed in these systems contribute to a narrow and partial vision of labour law, one that can be implemented only in segments of the labour market? We move beyond the generalised observations previous commentators have made about the limited scope of laws to a specific analysis of legal texts and judgements, pinpointing problems in concepts such as "worker", "employee", "establishment" and "industry". We ground our discussion in the literature of comparative labour law and labour law and development.

Our discussion focuses on occupational safety and health (OSH), but highlights the connections with other areas of labour law. The OSH focus is productive since in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, we can see both the legacy of narrow concepts and some emerging possibilities for broadening out those concepts, for example, transcending the fixation on direct employer-employee relations as the determinant of scope. Our suggestions for reform do not entail using Western countries as unrealistic benchmarks. Rather, we point to other countries in the Global South, especially in East and Southeast Asia which have already succeeded in broadening the law's scope.

Our analysis has implications not only for South Asia, but for many other former British colonies in the Global South that seek to recraft their labour laws to be more comprehensive in light of their domestic circumstances.

Decent work is a cornerstone of sustainable development, yet in Namibia, the informal economy, which accounts for a big portion of employment, is inadequately regulated. This paper uses a systematic literature review to analyse the regulatory frameworks and policies put in place to achieve decent work in Namibia's informal economy. This paper identifies, synthesizes, and categorises the themes from academic literature, government reports, and international labour studies published between 2019 and 2024 using the PRISMA approach. Thematic analysis revealed three core challenges: (1) lack of appropriate regulatory frameworks which do not address specific vulnerabilities of informal workers; (2) weak mechanisms for enforcement and institutional capacity; and (3) gender disparities reinforcing inequity in working conditions. The specific barriers uncovered in this research within these themes include lack of social protection, occupational health and safety gaps, and wage insecurities that undermine the realisation of decent work.

Amongst others, the study also identifies innovative approaches in policy discourse: digital platforms for informal worker registration, micro-social security schemes, and localised enforcement models. All these innovations show promise of effectively filling the regulatory gaps in tandem with the socio-economic situation of Namibia. It adds to the literature with an overall analysis of the Namibian approach in regulating decent work within the informal economy. It highlights the need for context-sensitive regulatory strategies that balance international labour standards with the lived realities of informal workers. Additionally, the findings provide a set of policy-relevant insights for achieving sustainable and inclusive labour practices, emphasising collaboration between government, civil society, and international stakeholders. Methodologically, the SLR ensures analytical rigor by providing a transparent and replicable framework for exploring regulatory issues. Through thematically synthesising the challenges and opportunities in Namibia's labour market, this study provides a roadmap for future research and policymaking to achieve equitable growth and social justice. The study therefore underlines the importance of regulatory innovations in promoting decent work and places Namibia's informal economy as a case study with transferable lessons for other developing countries facing similar challenges.

This paper seeks to examine de minimis regulations. There are rules that govern the non-regulation of small packages moving across borders. Although originally intended to simplify parcel logistics, these regulations have been appropriated by e-commerce platforms such as Temu, Shein and Aliexpress to enable low-cost direct sales from Asia.

Digital platforms have been argued to be leading to significant labour challenges. This includes platforms selling goods, where labour challenges relate to the fragmented nature of platformized sellers, their intense competition and platform power. This is evident most notably in the online “faster fashion” sector.

As a consequence of employing parcel modes of logistics (exploiting deminimis rules), importing countries often have limited ability to regulate distant platforms and incoming goods, including related to labour conditions. Moreover, these challenges are intensifying – new segments of e-commerce are adopting such models, including Amazon's new ‘Haul’ platform and social e-commerce (e.g Tiktok & Instagram sellers).

Aligned with emerging challenges, policymakers have called for reform of de minimis, with labour issues being at the forefront of the debate. For example, the EU reform targets Temu and Shein who have been argued not to “play on a level playing field” in terms of labour. In the US, Republican-led groups argue that de minimis is facilitating illegal imports of goods linked to forced labour.

Although de minimis has been discussed within the technical trade literature, there has been very little systematic understanding of its link to platform labour conditions. To examine such debates, I will take a techno-political approach - examining the technical aspects of logistics in hand with the political economy of deminimis reform. The paper will track the emergence of de minimis regulations, its incorporation into “e-commerce and development” discourses and how deminimis reform links into a broad set of goals (labour, competition, trade wars). Overall, based on this analysis, I argue that de minimis rules are an important prong of building a labour regime that disciplines problematic platform labour. However, current policy suggestions may be symbolic with limited impact without deeper reforms.

This work aligns with the conference track by considering effective labour regulation. In the platform economy, there is an acknowledgement that where labour regulation are weak, finding a more holistic and pragmatic set of tools and effective implementation that discipline problematic forms of platform business model may be a more effective remedy.