PRESS
RELEASE

To enhance exportearnings and promote diversification, temporary duty-free bond facility willsoon be provided to partial exporters against bank guarantees. Simultaneously,the full automation of bond services is underway.

These updates were sharedat the second monthly coordination meeting between the National Board ofRevenue (NBR) and the investment promotion agencies today. The meeting waschaired by Mr. Ashik Chowdhury, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh InvestmentDevelopment Authority and joined by Mr. Md. Abdur Rahman Khan, FCMA, Chairmanof NBR.

Officials from BangladeshEconomic Zones Authority, Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, Public-PrivatePartnership Authority, Moheshkhali Integrated Development Authority, andChittagong Port Authority were also present in the meeting held at BIDA’s conferenceroom.

Key updates and decisions include:

·      A gazettenotification will soon be released to allow partial export-oriented industriesto avail bonded warehouse benefits against 100% bank guarantee—limited to rawmaterials and components imported solely for export purposes to enable pricecompetitiveness in exports.

·      The automation of thebond services is in progress after which manual services will be fullydiscontinued.

·       The requirement of Utilization Declaration (UD) has beenconditionally relaxed for delivery of goods/services by licensed warehouseoperators to enterprises located in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) or EconomicZones, where payments are made through internal letters of credit denominatedin foreign currency.

·       To facilitate smoother customs clearance, consignmentswill now be released even if there is a mismatch between the HS Code andproduct description declared in the bond license, entitlement sheet, or UD, andthose determined by Customs through physical inspection—provided the first fourdigits of the HS Code match. In such cases, importers must submit anundertaking to update the bond license or UD within 30 days.

·      In addition, decisions on another 31 issues were taken toimprove the investment climate.

“We are working on policysupport mechanisms based on genuine investor demands that include bond facilities for partial exporters.Through coordinated efforts of the government, this will nowsoon be implemented. It will allow various domestic industries that rely onimported raw materials to export at competitive prices. We hope this willaccelerate export diversification in non-RMG sectors and boost both local andforeign investment,” said Ashik Chowdhury, Executive Chairman of BIDA.

NBR Chairman Md. AbdurRahman Khan FCMA emphasized on rational investment-friendly reforms andemphasized on self-assessment and post-clearance audit to ensure fasterclearance of goods from ports. He provided assurances of his directintervention in implementing necessary policy adjustments.

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