The Customs Bond wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) made the decision in principle recently in an internal meeting of all the customs bond officials from across the country.
Currently, exporters having bond licences need to get tenure extended once in two years.
Officials have said the decision has been taken following directives of the government high-ups as well as request from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).
Talking to the FE, AK Azad, former president to the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and BGMEA, said the decision would help cut associated or miscellaneous costs of the exporters in renewal of bond licences.
“Exporters face problems to release imported raw materials without bond-licence renewal,” said Mr Azad, the founder-Managing Director of Ha-Meem group of businesses.
BKMEA Executive President Mohammad Hatem, however, feels that relaxing the auditing tenure is much more important than bond licence-renewal tenure.
“We can renew bond licences easily under automated system. But conducting audit every year, as required by the customs authorities, is a troublesome task,” he says.
Exporters who are members of any association can easily have their bond licences renewed under automated system through their platform by paying renewal fees.
Mr Hatem demanded extension of auditing period to two or three years from the existing one year.
Industry-insiders say they have to bear additional expenses to renew bond licences and other related services under the customs bond.
They want automated bond-management system soon to reduce such hassle escalating business-operation costs.
An NBR official says only cent-percent export-oriented companies are entitled to the bonded-warehouse facility to import their raw materials without paying duty- taxes.
However, many of the exporters refrain from submitting annual audit reports though it is mandatory to avail the facility.
Officials have vented concern over the reluctance to conduct audit with the extension of tenure for licence renewal. They said it may cause rise in the number of non-compliant exporting companies.
However, the NBR offered the facilities despite customs officials’ concern over the matter in a bid to create business-friendly environment and trade facilitation.
Amid various pressures on both local and international fronts, the exporters would get a relief on compliance requirements for three years.
Earlier in June 2023, the NBR extended tenure of bond licences to three years for industries located in the export-processing zones (EPZs).
However, the customs wing has also considered creating a level playing field for the exporting industries located inside and outside EPZs.
Exporters said many of them usually failed to renew their bond licences in time due to various pressures of work on meeting shipment lead time set by international buyers and managing agitation of local workers on wage issues.
They have to count penalty for delay in bond-licence renewal and also face import-export disruptions.
As per recent decision, the tenure of bond licence has been increased to three years from the day of its issuance.
To avail the facility, exporters would have to comply with some conditions such as having audit report of at least two years and having export-import activities for at least one year out of three years.
Bond licence is issued and maintained under the Bonded Warehouse Licensing Rules 2008. There are 3000 active bond-licence holders in Bangladesh under different bond commissionerates.
