At least 400 factories that were to slow to comply with the new safety rules of the international Accord are no longer allowed to accept orders from the Western brands that are members of the Accord. The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh was set up by European fashion brands to improve factory safety in Bangladesh after a garment factory complex collapsed in 2013 killing more than 1,100 people.
The five-year pact was originally due to expire in May 2018 but the transition period has been extended. The pact’s factory oversight team will then hand over to a government body set up for that purpose. Nearly 200 out of 1,600 garment factories in Bangladesh have met the requirements of an international accord on worker safety.
