"Accord submits 281-day plan with conditions for departure", 12 February 2019

Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a platform of European fashion brands and buyers, has submitted a working paper to the government setting a 281-working day plan for handover of the Accord-listed factories to a national body [the remediation coordination cell (RCC)]...Government officials said...the platform tagged with it a number of conditions that might hinder the implementation of the plan...

One of the government representatives to the committee said that the proposal was not logical as the implementation of the plan would take up to 14 months to meet the Accord-mentioned conditions.

He said that the labour ministry on Monday sent its reaction on the working paper to the Accord saying that it was possible to reduce the working days to 160 from 281.

...[T]he government recently formed a committee comprised of representatives of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Accord signatories to finalise a time-bound transition plan for the retailers’ platform as per the instruction of the [Supreme Court]...

The tenure of the platform ended in May, 2018 and the government allowed it a six-month transition period [that] ended on November 30 last year...on January 21 this year, Supreme Court granted four weeks of additional time (up to February 18) to the Accord to continue the ongoing discussions with Bangladesh government and BGMEA over supports for the [RCC] and transition of Accord works to RCC.

Labour ministry officials said that to finalise the transition plan within the four weeks granted by Supreme Court, the working committee proposed Accord representatives sit with it on February 14 but the platform was yet to confirm.