"Analysis: Terms of extension to strip independence of Accord?", 19 May 2019

...Supreme Court allowed an extension to Accord for 281 working days, from the date of agreement, May 8, which will go well beyond February 2020. But, from now on, the extension offered is conditional and subjected to terms and condition of the agreement... The agreement states that BGMEA will form a committee within the Accord which will gradually take over all safety related matters in the apparel industry in time.

 ...Accord has been handed a four-point guideline which it will follow to continue its operation in Bangladesh and gradually make transition of its work to the state-run Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC).

The four-point guidelines are:

1)    There will be no termination or escalation of any factory from Accord’s end without the agreement of the BGMEA Unit.
2)    ACCORD agreed that there will be no group termination in case of the failure of one factory.
3)    There will be no duplication of inspection between the safety initiatives (RCC, ACCORD and Nirapon). This means that factories once inspected by ACCORD, Nirapon, RCC or any other inspecting authority will be considered as common standard.
4)    In case of any dispute between BGMEA unit and ACCORD, the matter will be referred to RCC for final settlement...