Textile Ministry has finalised the draft of first ever textile Act "Textile Industry Development, Promotion and Standard Act, 2011" which will empower the Ministry to formulate regulations and standards for achieving sustainable growth, increase productivity and value addition throughout the textile chain.
Sources revealed to Business Recorder that the details of the proposed Textile Act have been sent to all the stakeholders. They are bound to submit their input within two weeks, said sources, after which the bill would be presented in parliament for approval. It will be the first ever law of textile industry, which will empower the Ministry to take final decisions on every issue. Presently the Ministry has no power and cannot issue a SRO notification.
The Act would empower the Ministry to monitor the implementation of the textile policy (2009-14) and to ensure accurate statistics of production capacity, exports and total number of textile units in the country. The proposed Textile Act would require all the textile units functioning to register with Ministry of Textile Industry as only registered textile units would get incentives announced in the Textile Policy.
A federal board of textile industries would be constituted under the new bill for regular interaction between the industry and the policy makers to ensure development and promotion of the textile industry. The Board will comprise of 28 members including 14 members each from private and public sectors.
The Ministry lacks complete information about the textile units and their production data to make appropriate plans regarding the implementation of the textile policy. The new legislation aims at implementing the textile policy, strengthening the structure of textile industries and maintaining complete data on production of these units. Presently there is no textile export and import law in the country. In the proposed textile bill rules would be laid down and growth and activity of the industry would be monitored, sources added.