BGMEA has expressed apprehension that there may be a major negative impact on the garment sector if license renewal is stopped.
On Monday (May 18), senior vice-president of the organization Inamul Haque Khan said these things in the meeting held between the Directorate of Inspection of Factories and Establishments and BGMEA on license renewal and industry-friendly solutions. Inspector General (Additional Secretary) of the Directorate of Inspection of Factories and Establishments (DIFE). Farhad Siddique, Joint Inspector General of the Department. Matiur Rahman and BGMEA leaders were present in the meeting.
During the interaction, Senior Vice President Inamul Haque Khan said, “BGMEA has always been respectful of factory laws and safety regulations. A pragmatic solution is needed to sustain the industry in coordination with RSC, Nirapon, NAP and other compliance frameworks.”
He said, “If the license renewal is stopped, many factories will be closed, employment will decrease and exports will be negatively affected. Therefore, all concerned should work in concert to ensure compliance improvement while keeping the industry running.”
He also said, “The present government has taken the initiative to start the factories which were closed in the past years in a phased manner.” In light of this, he called for appropriate measures to be taken to re-open the garment factories which were closed recently due to various reasons.
Vice President of BGMEA Mohammad Rafiq Chowdhury highlighted the current reality regarding the renewal of licenses of ready made garment factories. He said, “Out of about 1500 factories covered by NAP monitoring under the supervision of DIFE, approximately 300 factories are currently operating in Dhaka and Chittagong. The condition of implementation of 100% Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is causing complications in the license renewal process. Especially since many of the SME factories are operating on rent-based or old infrastructure, it is becoming difficult to fulfill all the compliance parameters immediately.”
He also said, “Factories which have received license renewal last year and are continuing compliance improvement activities, considering the reality, it is necessary to give conditional license renewal opportunity this year.”
BGMEA leaders said, “Through the recent amendment to the Labor Act, the period for renewal of factory licenses has been increased to five years instead of one year, but at the field level, renewals are still not being made for more than one year.”
Inspector General. Farhad Siddique said that the activities regarding the renewal of the license are already underway and the five-year renewal will be implemented after the necessary fees and procedural issues are finalized. He also assured that the factories whose licenses have been renewed in the last year will be positively considered for renewal.
He said, “Where the present government is working to reopen closed factories, DIFE will provide maximum cooperation to keep the existing factories functioning. Besides, he emphasized on more guideline-based and coordinated work of inspectors of the Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments to ensure an industry-friendly environment.”
