The Government of Bangladesh recently has published final draft of Textile Act 2015, a thorough look of which reveals that the act is to bring all sub sectors of textiles under one umbrella which is The Directorate of Textiles (DoT) under the Ministry of Textiles. DoT is going to be the sponsoring authority of all textile and allied businesses in Bangladesh. As per the draft, the new act if passed by the cabinet and the parliament will be implemented by maintaining collaborations with existing Industry Laws, Export and Import Laws. But the act does not have concrete outline how implementation will be done and how synergies will be maintained.
In different needs of textile and RMG industry currently many ministries and departments are involved like Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Labor and Employment, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Land etc. This scenario already has made things very difficult for companies to comply with many regulations. There is not much synergy in the existing law and policy structure. At these circumstances, new textile act is bringing up another authority Directorate of Textiles (DoT) under the Ministry of Textiles as overall responsible and regulatory body for textile, RMG and allied industries.
Industry insiders have opined that if the new act really can make Directorate of Textiles (DoT) under the Ministry of Textiles as the only authority to provide all regulatory support and factories do not require to go any other authorities than it would helpful. But if the law only add another new authority, that would be disastrous for the sector. In that case the new law will hinder the growth of the sector instead of accelerating it.