The government has instructed the apparel-sector trade bodies to stop issuing utilisation declaration (UD) certificates to more 189 ‘non-compliant’ factories due to poor progress in their remediation work, officials said. In letters written separately, they said, the government has asked the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) to suspend the issuance of UD certificates to those units for a period of three months. The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) took the move after the RMG factories concerned failed to make required progress in the remediation work despite repeated reminders, they added. Of the units, 143 are registered with the BGMEA and 46 with the BKMEA. DIFE inspector general Shib Nath Roy in a letter written to the BGMEA on January 05 said the 143 BGMEA members didn’t take any move towards remediation and submit any drawing and design for remediation work to the department todate. In another letter sent to the BKMEA on December 29, he also attached the list of 46 non-compliant factories. Referring to a decision taken at the 15th meeting of the National Tripartite Committee (NTC) under the labour ministry, the DIFE chief asked both the trade bodies to suspend the issuance of UD certificates to 189 units. When asked, BGMEA president Dr Rubana Huq said a total of 54 out of 143 factories have taken UD according to their UD status for year 2019. “We are studying all their structural, electrical, fire submissions and checking updated status,” she said, adding that after that they would be in a position to give a decision. Last time, she said, the BGMEA suspended issuance of UD certificates to some 51 factories. Earlier in September 2018, the DIFE requested the two garment trade groups, representing the woven and knitwear sectors, to stop providing the facility to more than 200 factories, sources said. Of the units listed with the DIFE, some 142 were registered with the BGMEA and 74 with the BKMEA while 11 others were members of both trade bodies. Nine months after the DIFE instructions, BGMEA in June 2019 suspended issuance of UD to some 51 out of 142 factories, they added. When contacted, BKMEA senior vice-president Mohammad Hatem said they received a list of 46 factories from the DIFE. “We will comply with the DIFE instructions. But before that we will also investigate the issue,” he noted. While talking about the previous list, he said they received a list of 19 BKMEA member factories and they sought time to complete the remediation work. Immediately after the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013, three initiatives were launched in the readymade garment industry to improve workplace safety. A total of 3,780 garment factories underwent safety audits under three initiatives–the European retailers’ platform Accord, North American buyers’ platform Alliance and the government and ILO-supported national initiative. The rate of remediation progress has been recorded at over 90 per cent in factories listed with Accord and Alliance But the progress under the national initiative is relatively poor, industry people said.
