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Accord extended for 3 more years
Close on the heels of Bangladesh
Garment Manufacturers and
Exporters’ Association (BGMEA)
expressing its openness to EU
retailers’ group, Accord on
Fire and Building Safety in
Bangladesh will be continuing
its operations in Bangladesh as
a monitoring agency post-2018.
The European Union fashion
brands, retailers and global
union federations recently
announced a new deal named
‘Accord 2018’, which in effect
will carry forward the Accord
on Fire and Building Safety
in Bangladesh’s remediation
activities in the country’s
readymade garment industry
after May next year, when the
term of the current Accord
expires.
IndustriALL Global Union
and UNI Global Union, with
representatives from C&A and
LC Waikiki, proclaimed the new
agreement in Paris recently.
The latest agreement extends
independent, expert building
safety inspections for three
more years for all covered
factories besides presenting
the possibility to expand the
Accord to sectors other than the
garment industry.
The new agreement has so
far reportedly been signed
by Kmart Australia, Target
Australia, Primark, H&M,
Inditex, C&A, Otto, KiK,
Aldi South, Aldi North, Lidl,
Tchibo, LC Waikiki and Helly
Hansen while another eight
brands – such as Esprit, Hüren,
Bestseller, Wibra, Schmidt
Group, N Brown Group, PVH,
Specialty Fashion Group
Australia, have reportedly also
committed to signing it.
It may be mentioned here that
following the Rana Plaza building
collapse in April 2013, EU
retailers formed the Accord while
North American retailers formed
the Alliance to undertake a five-
year plan, which set time frames
and accountability for inspections
and training and workers’
empowerment programmes.
Budget: Corporate Tax for RMG sector lowered
to 12%; Tax at Source 1% retained
In what may be termed as some
reprieve to the readymade garment
manufacturers of Bangladesh,
the Government has lowered the
Corporate Tax to 12 per cent from
15 per cent, as was proposed
in the Budget placed before the
Parliament on June 1. However, Tax
at Source of 1 per cent on export
earnings from readymade garments
has been retained.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul
Muhith, in his final Budget speech,
said that the garment exporters
would have to pay 1 per cent tax at
source in the new fiscal year. The
rate is supposed to be 1 per cent
in FY 2017-18 after exporters paid
the tax at the rate of 0.7 per cent
in FY ’17, as the National Board of
Revenue reduced the rate for the
year through a special statutory
regulatory order.
The rate of Corporate Tax for green
factories has also been reduced
to 10 per cent from the proposed
32 Apparel Online Bangladesh | AUGUST 2017 | www.apparelresources.com
14 per cent. The Parliament has
passed the Finance Bill 2017
recently, incorporating some
changes, including those related to
Value-Added Tax, Income Tax and
Customs Duty.
It may be mentioned here that in FY
2016-17, the rate of Corporate Tax
for the garment sector was 20 per
cent, which the Finance Minister in
the proposed Budget reduced to 15
per cent before cutting further to
settle at 12 per cent.