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Professor Provides Expert Reports in Bangladesh Factory Case

Professor Provides Expert Reports in Bangladesh Factory Case

February 19, 2018

Associate Professor Mark Anner provided two expert reports in a case brought by Global Union Federations (GUFs) against multinational corporations for failure to remediate building safety concerns in the Bangladesh garment supplier factories under terms of the legally binding Bangladesh Accord for Fire and Building Safety.

For his expert reports, which he presented to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague in June 2017 and in December 2017, Dr. Anner drew heavily on field research and a survey he conducted in Bangladesh on sourcing practices. He also drew on approximately 30 years of practitioner and scholarly experience and research on the global apparel industry.

Anner's work was combined with other material and argument assembled by the unions and their law firm, Covington and Burling.  After reviewing the material, both companies agreed to settle rather than have the case go to hearing. Although many of the details on the settlement are confidential, including the company names, what is known is that these firms will now pay several million dollars to fix factory safety issues in their supplier factories.

Read more about the events here.