NBR asks customs houses to ease restrictions on release of bonded goods
NBR has again asked customs houses to follow instructions about what to do when there are errors in HS Codes and to facilitate the delivery of bonded goods
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has issued special instructions to the country's customs houses to ease the process of taxation and clearance of goods imported under bonded facility.
An official order to this effect was sent to the customs houses and the Customs Bond Commissionerates of the country on 25 October.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) when operating under bonded warehouse facilities, has long been complaining of harassment by officials of the customs houses and Customs Bond Commissionerate.
BGMEA has also requested the NBR to ease the process of consignment delivery several times in the last few months.
In this context, NBR sent the latest directive to the customs houses and the Customs Bond Commissionerates on 25 October.
In it, the NBR said it had already given directions to simplify the process of customs clearance and taxation of imported goods and to remove complications in attaching the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HS Code) to bond licences. But recently some customs houses have not been following the order.
Especially, there are clear instructions about things to do if the HS Code is absent, wrong, or does not exactly match with the imported goods. However, customs officials still stop the release of consignments in such cases and even suspend all import-export operations of organisations with such faults.
In some cases, even after these importers include the HS Code in the licence, the authorities have been barring the release of their subsequent consignments with the same HS Code, which does not facilitate trade.
"The concerned departments are hereby requested to follow the NBR instructions in order to ensure speedy and uninterrupted delivery of bonded goods without unnecessary delay," said the NBR in its directive.
In this regard, BGMEA First Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam told The Business Standard, "The NBR previously issued such letters several times to facilitate the process of taxation and release of bond products, but they were not very effective at the lower level.
"Still we are thankful for the NBR's new instructions. We hope that following NBR instructions, customs officials will work to prevent the harassment of traders."
