Bangladesh will crack down on illegal units and streamline the readymade garment sector. Textile and garment factories have to get themselves registered. Violations will attract a prison term or a fine while factories have to renew their license every three years. The Directorate of Textiles will be an effective sponsoring authority for the RMG sector. The directorate has the authority to inspect factories at any time and factories would be bound to provide documents. The textile directorate will establish a database of industries based on the information provided by the factories.
However, knitwear manufacturers and exporters say it would not be pragmatic to renew licenses of factories every three years as the industry does not comprise trading companies. The period for renewal of license for factories should be 10 years instead of three years, they say. Factory owners have expressed reservation over the registration clause. They say it should be applicable to new establishments and the license for existing factories should be renewed based on the previous license of the Board of Investment.
Manufacturers have also demanded scrapping the provision of recommendation to the customs authorities regarding release of imported capital machineries and indemnity bond.