One hundred and five readymade garment factories inspected under ILO-supported national initiative are going to face closure as the units have failed to make any progress in fixing safety faults. At the same time, 197 more RMG factories might face export licence suspension as the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments has taken a move to send letters to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and the bond commissionerate requesting them to stop providing utilisation declaration and suspend bond licence to the companies for non-compliance. According to the recent data disclosed by the Remediation Coordination Cell, the National Tripartite Committee at its 15th meeting held on July 31 at the labour ministry approved an Escalation Protocol to expedite remediation works in the RMG factories inspected under the national initiative. As of September 19 this year, 393 factories remained at Round-3 (factories which received warning letters), 197 at Round-4 (factories whose export licences are suspended) and 105 factories reached Round-5 (factories which received closure notice) under the Escalation Protocol, the RCC data showed. ‘We have hold meeting with the owners of the Round-5 factories in last month and informed them about the factory closure. We have also sent the list of Round-5 factories to the DIFE as the department is responsible to issue closure notice to the units,’ AKM Salehuddin, project director of the RCC, told New Age on Thursday. He said that the DIFE had also sit with the factory owners this month and few factories got one week and few got two weeks to start remediation work and to avert factory closure. According to the Escalation Protocol, after becoming a Round 5 factory, the factory owners will be notified to meet the inspector general of DIFE in presence of the representatives of respective employers’ association and labour organisation where he/she will be given a final warning letter to start remediation within two weeks. If the factory still remains non-compliance or postpones work any time, it will be escalated to the Round 6 and the DIFE would issue a closure order to the factory, the protocol said. ‘Despite holding repeated meetings, the factory authorities failed to make any progress in implementing corrective action plan in their units and DIFE has decided to issue closure notice to the factories,’ Farid Ahmed, joint inspector general of the DIFE, told New Age on Sunday. Before issuing the letter, the department would sit once again with the factory owners and the DIFE has already sat with the factory owners in Gazipur in the second week of this month, he said. Earlier on September 20, 2018, the inspection department issued separate letters to the BGMEA and the BKMEA, asking the trade bodies to stop providing utilisation declaration to 219 non-compliant RMG units as the remediation progress in those units was not satisfactory. Of them, 134 units were members of the BGMEA and 74 were members of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Responding to the letter from the department, the BGMEA stopped issuing utilisation declaration to 51 factories. The BKMEA sources said 74 units were shut due to lack of work orders. The RCC officials said they had prepared a fresh list of 197 RMG factories which reached the Round 4. The RCC sent the list to the DIFE to issue letters to respective trade bodies and the bond commissionerate requesting to stop providing utilisation declaration and suspend bond license to the companies for non-compliance, officials said. Following the April, 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1,100 people, a total of 3,780 garment factories were assessed for safety under three initiatives – European retailers’ platform Accord, North American buyers’ platform Alliance, and the government-led and ILO-supported national initiative. Of the 3,780 garment factories, 1,549 were inspected under the national initiative. Of them, 531 were closed, 69 relocated and 193 transferred to Accord and Alliance lists. According to the government data, the factories that fell under the national initiative completed 38 per cent of structural, 39 per cent of electrical and 34 per cent of fire remediation. It also showed that 16 buildings housing 17 factories completed 100 per cent remediation.

The country’s apex apparel body has called for government intervention to address banking disputes with China to save the reputation of the local financial sector, officials said. It has sought commerce ministry’s cooperation in facilitating talks with the agencies concerned in Dhaka and Beijing. According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Chinese banks have reservations against some commercial banks here due to their poor financial performance. Referring to some media reports, the clothing platform said China has reportedly ‘blacklisted’ some Bangladeshi banks. Several of the banks have already clarified their stance. To highlight the matter of great import, BGMEA president Dr Rubana Huq has recently sent a letter to commerce minister Tipu Munshi. “You’re certainly aware of the banking issues that China has raised against certain commercial banks in Bangladesh that ultimately tarnish the reputation of its financial sector,” she writes. “A good number of state-owned and private banks have been classified by their internal credit departments as weak, citing higher advance-deposit ratio, inadequate capital, bad governance and management problems.” In the letter, Ms Rubana claimed that there was no serious allegation behind blacklisting Bangladeshis commercial banks by the Chinese authorities. She said, “I’ve gathered information from a few commercial banks in Bangladesh. It appears that local banks are operating with Chinese banks smoothly.” The BGMEA chief informed senior representatives of some banks of the issues and met the trade counsellor of the Chinese embassy in Dhaka two months ago. She found that there was no serious allegation raised by the embassy that might lead to ‘blacklist’ banks. In the letter, Mr Rubana said, “I’ve enquired and found that there is no pending or overdue import bill to any bank in China.” “However, such issues are not helpful for inter-bank and country-to-country relationships.” China is the largest partner of Bangladesh having bilateral trade grown by 14.47 per cent of the compound annual growth rate in the past 10 years. The Sino-Bangla trade accounted to $12.40 billion in fiscal year 2017-18, reads the letter. The BGMEA leader said, “We should look into the issues seriously and resolve them to avoid any future hiccups in our trade.” She called for discussing the matter with the management of the listed banks by China, get it clarified and settled without delay. Ms Rubana was contacted for comment, she SMSed this reported to inform her stay in New York now. When asked, BGMEA senior vice-president Faisal Samad said there was no problem over the payment issue. It was mainly the communication gap between the Bangladeshi and Chinese bank authorities concerned, he told the FE. Mr Samad claimed the china authorities too have problems.

More than 300 ready-made garment (RMG) factories, inspected under the national initiative, are going to face various punishments, like – closure and suspension of export license, as they have failed to make required remedial progress until date, officials said. The Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), in this regard, has already warned some 105 garment units of closure in line with its escalation protocol phase five. They also said the government will issue closure notice to the factories, if they fail to make progress within the set timeframe. Besides, the RCC put additional 197 factories in phase four of the escalation protocol. They might face temporary suspension of utilisation declaration (UD), issued by their respective trade-bodies, and suspension of bond license by bond commissionarate, the officials added. The MoLE on July 31 approved the escalation protocol, which is similar to punitive measures of the western retailers’ platforms – Accord and Alliance. It aims at expediting remediation works in the RMG factories, inspected under national initiative. The protocol spells out requirements for the units, not meeting corrective action plan deadlines to address safety non-compliances. If the factories are unwilling to comply with the requirements, the protocol sets out the process how the government and the industry partners will respond to them, following gradual harder steps leading to closure. As of September 19, a total of 393 factories remained in phase three, 197 in phase four (export license suspension), and 105 factories in phase five (received closure notice) under the escalation protocol, the RCC data showed. When asked, the RCC project director A K M Salehuddin told the FE on Thursday that they held meeting with the factories in phase five last month, and warned them of closure. “We have also sent a list of the 105 units to the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) that has the authority to shut any industrial unit in this regard.” The RCC has sent another list of more than 100 factories to the DIFE to take measures related to suspension of UD, he added. The DIFE, in September 2018, issued separate letters to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA). It asked the trade-bodies to stop UD declaration to 219 non-compliant RMG units following their poor safety remediation progress. Of them, 134 units were members of the BGMEA and 74 were members of the BKMEA. Responding to the DIFE letter, the BGMEA temporarily suspended issuing UD certificate to 51 non-compliant factories in June, sources said. Some 3,780 garment factories were assessed fire, electrical and structural integrity by Accord, Alliance and national initiative after the tragic Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people. Some 1,549 garment units, out of the 3,780, were inspected under national initiative, while about 531 units were closed, 69 relocated, and 193 transferred to Accord and Alliance lists. According to the government data, some 700 active factories that are under national initiative completed 38 per cent of structural, 39 per cent of electrical, and 34 per cent of fire remediation works.