"Bangladesh Accord ruling pushed back for sixth time", 19 February 2019

A decision on the future of the Accord for Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh has been pushed back...with a hearing on the pact's continued operation now due to take place on 7 April...

The original five-year pact expired on May 2018, but was extended to complete remaining safety fixes while the Bangladesh government builds up its Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) as the national regulatory body to oversee workplace safety and remediation. 

But international stakeholders fear the RCC is not yet prepared to take on the responsibilities of the Accord's inpsection programme...They allege the government has stated the framework should be allowed to continue operations under a set of highly restrictive constraints that include prohibiting Accord inspectors from identifying any new safety violations in factories...

...[T]he Accord called [for] a "responsible and sustainable" transition plan...[Accord] claims it is "widely recognised"...that the RCC-DIFE remains "at its earliest stages of development and is not yet prepared to regulate building and occupational safety and health at its current base of RMG [ready-made garment] factories."...