Int'l Accord separate from RMG Sustainability Council: BGMEA

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has said that the recently signed International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry is separate from RMG Sustainability Council (RSC).

The trade body of apparel makers said the former Bangladesh Accord Foundation and the recently signed contract for new international platform for health and safety in the textile and garment industry will not have any function directly or indirectly without permission from the government.

They claimed that the International Accord agreement being implemented in Bangladesh by the independent national tripartite RSC is misleading, the BGMEA said in the statement.

The board of the RSC is only accountable to its stakeholders and works through a unique consensual decision making process, whereby no two groups may influence operations.

The International Labour Organisation and the European Union, being key development partners to Bangladesh, have lent their endorsement to the RSC from its very inception. 

A European retailer in Bangladesh requesting anonymity said the recently formed International Accord in Bangladesh does not have any function. It has been formed for other countries, he said. 

He also said the RSC and the International Accord are two separate entities.

The RSC was formed as an independent non-profit company, licensed by the government to take over the Bangladesh operations of the Accord and as such, the Accord functions in Bangladesh ceased to exist as of 31 May 2020.

The RSC has taken over the monitoring regime as of 1st June 2020 bringing the Bangladesh RMG safety monitoring regimes under one umbrella.