The government has recently directed all the buying houses in the garment and textile sector in Bangladesh to get registered with the Department of Textiles to run business in the country.In a gazette notification issued on May 28, the textiles and jute ministry said that as per the section 14 of Textile Act 2018, all the buying houses must have to be registered with the DoT within 60 days of the issuance of the notification.The ministry also said that if any buying house sought time extension with valid reasons, the registrar could allow 60 more days.If any buying house fails to obtain registration on time, the government will take legal action against the company as per law.According to the Textile Act 2018, the Department of Textiles is the sponsoring authority of all textile and clothing industries. The buying houses will have to get registered with the department for running their business in the country.Earlier, on April 1, the ministry issued a gazette notification detailing what would be the procedure for the registration of buying houses with the DoT.It said that the buying houses would have to file application with the DoT with the documents of updated trade licence, income tax certificate, certificate of incorporation as limited company, estimated yearly turnover and bank solvency certificate.The ministry has set Tk 20,000 as fee for the registration and it would have to be paid through bank draft or pay order.Subject to receiving documents and if necessary, inspection report, the registrar would give registration within 60 days of submitting application and the validity of the registration certificate would be three years.‘All the buying houses with local and foreign investment and liaison offices of buyers and brands will have to come under registration and it is a good initiative to bring the sector under regulation,’ Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association president Kazi Iftequer Hossain told New Age on Monday.Many of the buying houses are running their business in the country unregulated and the government does not know how many companies are working in the sector, he said.‘There are some foreign buyers who work with Bangladeshi readymade garment factories through their liaison offices and if they use any unfair means, we cannot take any action against them as they remain outside the purview of regulations,’ Iftequer said.He said that all the companies who were working in the sector would have to comply with the laws of land and the government initiative to bring buying houses under registration would ensure accountability of the companies.According to the Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association, there are more than 1,200 buying houses operating in the country. Of them, around 400 are members of the association.Since April 1 this year, 10 buying houses got registered with the DoT.
