Accord on Fire and Building safety, the legally binding initiative to ensure safe workplaces for readymade garment factory workers, will continue beyond its May 2018 deadline as the local regulatory body is not ready yet in Bangladesh. It would continue operations until the local regulatory body demonstrated 'full capacity to inspect factories, compel remedies, and protect workers'.

According to a statement, the government confirmed last week it would extend permission for accord to continue beyond May 2018 until a joint monitoring committee, comprised of accord brand signatories, accord trade union signatories, BGMEA, ILO and the government, agreed that the "stated conditions" for a handover are met. The readiness conditions include demonstrated proficiency in inspection capacity, remediation of hazards, and enforcement of the law against non-compliant factories, full transparency of governance and remediation progress, and investigation and fair resolution of workers’ safety complaints.

Jenny Holdcroft, IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary and Accord Board member, stated they have always aimed for the Accord functions to transition to a national regulatory body provided that the full capacity, transparency, and governance are in place and that it can be assured that the worker protections under the Accord continue to be safeguarded.

Accord wanted to continue operations for three more years and signed a new agreement in June this year. The High Court on Oct 16 halted the new accord between the fashion brands and trade unions, asking why it should not be cancelled for signing without permission from the government, owners and workers of the country.

Accord and Alliance for Workers Safety were formed after the deaths of over 1,100 workers in the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse raised concerns among the buyer countries over workplace safety in Bangladesh. As per the commerce minister the Alliance is winding up its operations by the May 2018 deadline.