Customs Bill placed in parliament

Target to ensure accountability in import revenue collection

FE Team | Published: October 26, 2023 00:22:23

The Customs Bill 2023 was placed in the Parliament on Wednesday - aiming to ensure fiscal discipline and accountability in import revenue collection and trade facilitation, reports UNB.
Law Minister Anisul Huq, in absence of Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, placed the bill and it was sent to the respective committee for further examination. The committee was asked to submit its report within seven days.
According to the objective of the bill, revenue collection at the import level of Bangladesh is being conducted under the Customs Act, 1969.
Necessary amendments to this act are brought through the Finance Act in the budget session every year.
However, along with the expansion of foreign trade, in light of the Revised Kyoto Convention and the Trade Facilitation Agreement signed later for the purpose of simplifying various procedures of customs, there is a need to amend the existing law to make the customs law of Bangladesh easy and compatible with international best practices and to make it business-friendly.
The Customs Act, 1969 enacted in English language by incorporating international best practices related to customs was part of the multifaceted reform and modernization program undertaken by the government and the National Board of Revenue to promote international standards of customs management in international trade and import and export. Initiatives have been taken to enact a modern customs law.
Accordingly, a draft of the Customs Act has been prepared in consultation with various organizations and stakeholders.
Customs Bill, 2023 has been prepared in Bengali language for the purpose of making up-to-date provisions on revenue collection, expansion of import and export trade, facilitation of business and expansion of new industrial sectors, after various reviews and revisions of the draft law following the above due process.
The salient features of the proposed Customs Act, 2023 are as follows:
While the existing Customs Act, 1969 is framed in English, the proposed "Customs Act, 2023" is framed in mother tongue Bengali.