The apparel trade bodies have not stopped issuing utilisation declaration (UD) certificates yet to “non-compliant” and “risky” garment factories, violating government order.Last month, the state-run Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) in separate letters asked the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) to stop providing UD certificates to more than 200 factories over their poor remediation progress, they added.Of the units, some 131 are registered with the BGMEA, and 84 are affiliated with the BKMEA. Some 11 are members of both of trade-bodies, according to DIFE officials.Leaders of the trade bodies said it is not possible to close down any factory immediately after getting letters as the livelihood of many workers depends on the factories and they have their existing work orders.When asked, Mohammed Nasir, vice president of the BGMEA, said they are working on the issue and have already held meetings with factories located in Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj.The BGMEA wants to help the units, where 20 to 30 per cent post-inspection corrective measures remain to be completed, survive, he said.There are some factories which informed the association that the remediation work there would be completed by December next, he said.”It is easy to ruin an enterprise but difficult to build it,” he told the FE.Those who will fail to do remediation will stay out of business, he said, adding the issue will be raised to its next board meeting to decide the next course of action.Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, vice president of the BKMEA, said the factories the department identified for UD cancelations are not risky, but still they can’t allow any factory that put workers’ lives in danger to operate.The BKMEA has issued letters to its 84 member factories seeking update of the remediation work, he said.”We gave them a 15-day ultimatum to respond starting from October 10,” he said.No utilisation certificates would be issued against future letters of credits (L/C) if their feedback is not satisfactory and they are found vulnerable.Responding to a question, he said for the sake of export, UD has not been cancelled yet as they have existing work orders to ship and bank liabilities.Shamsuzzaman Bhuiyan, inspector general of the DIFE, said an escalation protocol has been developed to bring errant factories under remediation through discussion with the sectoral trade bodies.”They should comply with the government’s directive,” he said, adding the department would send further letters shortly to both trade bodies, seeking the measures they have taken.
