Of the 1,600 factories inspected by Accord between 2014 and 2019, only 200 have been awarded completion certificates by accord.
This was confirmed recently by Dr. Rubana Huq, Chairman, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
Reportedly, she accused Accord’s members of unilaterally enforcing new requirements that was impacting the garment and textile industry of Bangladesh in a big way.
In this context, Dr. Huq met the inspectors on 3 August and urged them to meet manufacturers while taking decisions.
Further on the same, she said “We had an agreement with Accord in May this year that it would not take any decision unilaterally; however, the agreement hasn’t been honoured.”
She also added that ever since the Accord was formed, the Government had implemented several remediation as per Accord’s requirements, which also required huge investment. But now Accord was asking for more remediation, without consulting anyone.
While only 200 factories have been given completion certificates, at least 400 have been stopped from accepting any foreign orders as they were found to be too slow to comply with new rules.
The five-year pact was supposed to end in May 2018 but the transition period was extended.