Bangladesh’s textile and jute ministry recently took an initiative to formulate the textile (industry registration) rules under the Textile Act 2018 to bring the textile and clothing industries under the department of textile (DoT) regulations. It prepared a draft guideline for the registration of all such factories and sought recommendations from stakeholders.
As per the draft, the apparel and textile industries would have to fulfil a number of criteria, including environmental and workplace related compliances, to obtain licence from the DoT, according to Bangla media reports.
It said that the factories would have to submit updated versions of all the required documents, install fire extinguishers in premises while discharge of industrial wastage into rivers or other water bodies has been disallowed.
The draft also said that factory authorities were not allowed to employ child workers and were required to provide for day care centres and maternity leaves with benefits to female workers to ensure a decent work environment.
In order to obtain licence, establishments would have to harvest rain water to reduce the use of ground water, the draft added.
In the draft, the ministry has proposed a registration fee for the factories based on their investments.
After the application is filed, the registrar would issue an inspection order within three days following which the inspector would submit his report within 10 days.
The registrar would issue a registration certificate to the entity a period of three years based on the eligibility criteria fulfilled during inspection, the draft said.