Bhutan has urged Bangladesh to allow its businesses enjoy duty benefit under the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) signed in December 2020.
Bhutan, the only country having a bilateral trade deal with Bangladesh, has requested the Bangladesh Embassy in Thimphu through a 'note verbale' regarding the export of dolomite powder here.
Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wang-chuck is coming to Dhaka tomorrow (Monday) as part of a five-day official tour of Bangladesh.
Officials said the bilateral trade issue might come up in talks during his visit to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The Bhutanese ministry of foreign affairs and external trade has sent the note verbale to the Bangladesh foreign ministry to resolve customs issues.
Both countries signed the PTA with an eye to reducing or waiving import tariff and para-tariff.
On 01 July 2022, Bhutan made the duty-free market access facility effective for an estimated 100 Bangladeshi products under the PTA.
"Bhutanese traders exporting dolomite are being subjected to customs duty levied by the Bangladeshi authorities through Burimari port of entry due to some changes in HS codes," cites the note verbale.
A senior customs official said dolomite was not included in the exemption list in the Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), dated February 2022.
It was because of a revision of HS (harmonised system) codes in World Customs Orgnisation, resulting in the imposition of the duty taxes, he added.
Before 2022, according to the official, the import of dolomite powder was under the duty benefit list.
However, the NBR has included the HS code of dolomite powder under the PTA in January 2024 again, he added.
Officials said customs officials in field offices have imposed customs duty during the period when the SRO with exemption was not in place between February 2022 and January 2024.
They said the issue could be addressed with the intervention of government high-ups offering duty exemption for this period too.
"The Royal government is of the understanding that the products already listed in the PTA should enjoy duty-free transactions as it is still in effect," writes the Bhutanese foreign ministry.
It has requested the Bangladesh government to allow the Bhutanese traders to continue exporting dolomite without levying duty taxes.
Following the diplomatic correspondence, the Bangladesh foreign ministry requested the customs authority, in a letter dated 27 February 2024, to fix the issue referring to the note verbale on 14 February 2024 through the Bhutanese embassy.
Burimari customs officials have levied duty taxes after they found the HS codes 2518.10.00, 2518.20.00 and 2518.30.00 were not in the February 2022 SRO, although it was under the PTA.
The Bhutanese exporters are now entitled to the duty benefit under the latest SRO.
According to the terms of the PTA, 100 products of Bangladesh are entitled to duty-free benefits in Bhutan and 34 products of Bhutan in Bangladesh.
However, Bangladesh has been providing duty-free market facility to 18 Bhutanese products since 2010, while 90 of Bangladesh are getting similar facility in Bhutan.
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