Two groups of retailers...announced...that they had agreed on joint inspection standards for thousands of garment factories in Bangladesh as part of their effort to improve workplace safety there. The American-led group, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, comprises 26 retailers, and the European-dominated group, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, with more than 100 members, said that the new agreement was considerably tougher than the previous standards used by many individual retailers and by the Bangladeshi government...[T]ensions emerged between the two groups. An official from one of the accord’s members voiced fears that the European-led group’s binding commitment to help pay for needed safety upgrades would enable American retailers to avoid helping pay for improvements. [refers to H&M, Marks & Spencer and Carrefour, Walmart, Gap, Kohl’s, Target]