It is inappropriate for the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) or any other trade body to have any role or say in determining the eligibility of an applicant for registration as a buying house under the Textiles Act, 2018, in the presence of the Bangladesh Garments Buying House Association (BGBHA), the latter said recently in a letter to the government.
As BGBHA has been licensed by the director of trade organisations as the trade body representing buying houses in Bangladesh and the nature of business of a buying house and that of a manufacturer-exporter are completely different, BGBHA president Kazi Iftekhar Hossain requested the ministry of textiles and jute to admit the application for registration of only those companies that produce copies of BGBHA membership.
The development follows BGMEA’s recent request to the government to offer registration to its associate member buying houses. The ministry, in an April 1 circular, had made it mandatory for apparel buying houses to get registered with the department of textiles.
BGMEA has been giving certificate to buying houses as its associate members. BGBHA told Fibre2Fashion that though BGMEA earlier claimed having 1,500 buying houses as associate members, that was incorrect as reflected in the updated information on their website, which shows it has only 300 buying houses as associate members, out of which 88 have shifted to BGBHA.BGBHA, which has nearly 700 members out of which 450 have already been registered with the department, requested the ministry to disregard BGMEA’s request or else it may lead to chaos and indiscipline.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)