The factory inspection agency of European apparel retailers — Accord — seeks to extend its stay in Bangladesh for another three years, to complete remediation of the factoriesThe tenure of the five-year legally binding agency, which has been monitoring more than 700 garment factories, is scheduled to end in June 2018“But several of the Accord members are in discussion to extend the tenure as full remediation of the factories might not be possible by the set time,” said Rob Wayss, Accord’s executive director for Bangladesh operations, by phone.Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said: “We do not want the Accord to stay here after expiry of the current tenure.”“The remediation is a continuous process. As per recommendations of the Accord and Alliance, we have done a lot of work,” said Babu, after a meeting with the Accord and H&M local representatives at the BGMEA office yesterday.Babu called for merging the three inspection agencies – the Accord, Alliance and government initiative — into one platform for better inspection of the factory buildings to strengthen workplace safety. Currently, all three agencies have been inspecting the factories separately.After the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013, 200 European retailers and brands joined hands under the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh to upgrade compliance standards at factories.Similarly, 28 North American retailers and brands formed the Alliance for the same purpose. On the other hand, the government, along with the International Labour Organisation, has taken a national initiative to inspect more than 2,000 factories, those which are not members of either the Accord or Alliance.Babu demanded bringing changes to the provisions of the Accord, as many of the provisions go against the interests of apparel makers. “We want to be included in the Accord Steering Committee.” He said the Accord should include BGMEA, ILO and the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments under the labour and employment ministry in the steering committee.The representative of H&M, in a separate meeting, urged the garment makers to improve labour standards and practise good governance so that Bangladesh qualifies for the GSP Plus status in the EU after 2021, when Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate to a developing country.As a least developed country, Bangladesh enjoys a zero-duty benefit to the EU under its Everything but Arms scheme since 1971. But once it becomes a developing country, Bangladesh will no longer be eligible for the privilege. The GSP Plus scheme will then be applicable for Bangladesh, for which the country will have to fulfil some conditions.Strengthening workplace safety, improved labour rights, saving the environment and reduction of corruption are some of the major conditions to receiving the GSP Plus status.
