A coalition of stakeholders is urging the Bangladesh government to ensure continuance of Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh operations until the incoming Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) is deemed ready to takeover industry oversight. Without Accord’s extension, sourcing in Bangladesh could suffer. According to Accord, Bangladesh has made some progress on safety compliance, there’s a general acknowledgement among different stakeholders and representatives that the RCC is still in its earliest stages of development and will first need to bridge the gap until it’s fully ready to be implemented.

Also, it is in the crucial interest of Accord signatories to complete the work of remediation which started in May 2013 and a sustainable and adequate national regulatory structure is implemented by the to regulate workplace safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry.

The Accord came about after the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April 2013. Its aim was to police the conditions in the sector and help factories with remediation efforts to get them on par. In the last five years since its inception, the Accord has delivered a robust, high quality, transparent, inclusive system, and it has made substantial progress to achieve the safety of workers in Bangladesh’s most important export industry.