The National of Board of Revenue (NBR) has made it mandatory for submission of bill of entry, a written account of imported and exported goods, to customs within five working days of the arrival of the goods at the port.
The rule has been imposed to speed up clearance of imported goods and ease congestion at ports, particularly at the Chattogram seaport, which handles about 90 per cent of Bangladesh’s annual $100 billion overseas trade.
The measure, slapped for the first time, came in Finance Bill 2020 placed by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at the parliament last Thursday along with the budget proposal for the next fiscal year. The new rule became effective straightaway.
“It means that importers whose import consignments arrived later will have to furnish a bill of entry within the newly fixed time limit. We have introduced the rule to reduce congestion at ports,” said a senior NBR official seeking to remain unnamed as he not authorised to talk to the media.
Non-compliance with the new provision added in the customs law will be subject to penalty, said the official, adding that the NBR would frame rules regarding the penalty.
Mahbubul Alam, president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, however, said the government should review the decision as it would increase the hassles faced by businesses.
Collection of the bill of entry depends on the bank-client relationship. It may be difficult for many businesses to collect the bill of entry from banks within five days of the arrival of goods, he said.
The initiative comes as congestion at the Chattogram port has become almost a common phenomenon owing to an increased volume of trade and lethargy among a section of importers to take delivery of imported goods.
Customs officials said there was no specific rule regarding submission of bill of entry and in absence of that many importers would delay in taking delivery of the goods from the port.
“There are allegations that many importers use ports as warehouses, which ultimately creates congestion. Besides, there are also allegations that a racket of duty evaders leave imported items at the port waiting to find a convenient time to take the release of the goods,” the official said.
A study in 2014 showed that the time taken in Chattogram port for the release of cargo at import is 11 days, 9 hours and 45 minutes and for export is 4 days, 22 hours and 38 minutes. This time needs to be reduced to facilitate legitimate trade, it said.
Improvements have been made in the later years and customs at the Chattogram port can clear 82 per cent of the imported goods within four days.
More than four days are needed for the rest of the items, according to Time Release Study done from the period of July-December 2019, said the official.
Officials hope that the new rule would speed up clearance of goods and this would also improve Bangladesh’s rankings in the World Bank’s ease of doing business.
The NBR expects further improvements in the ease of doing business once the National Single Window (NSW), an electronic gateway for businesses to submit information related to imports and exports to regulatory authorities to clear goods, was established.
The NSW will bring together services of 39 public agencies to one electronic entry platform to serve businesses involved in import, export, warehousing, transit or transhipment of goods.
In Finance Bill 2020, the NBR introduced a provision in the customs law for the establishment of the NSW.
A commissionerate, to be called Bangladesh Single Window (BSW) Commissionerate, will be established for the operation of the electronic gateway.
The BSW Commissionerate would consist of a commissioner of customs and other designated representatives from the certificate, licence and permit issuing agencies, according to the new provision.
After establishment, any person intending to engage in import, export, warehousing, transit or transhipment of goods will have to submit data and documents electronically to the BSW Commissionerate, according to the law.
A standing committee headed by the NBR chairman with one representative from each of the certificate, licence and permit issuing agencies will be formed to supervise and coordinate the activities of the BSW Commissionerate.
