An initiative is afoot now to establish customs missions in ten countries to check duty evasion through under-invoicing, smuggling, money laundering and terror financing, officials said.
Customs intelligence and inspection department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided to send a proposal to the Finance Division of the Ministry of Finance for its approval to set up the overseas missions.
Initially, the missions are planned to be opened in New York of the United States, Japan, Malaysia, India, China, Singapore, South Korea, Dubai, Italy and Thailand.
The countries have been found most important on export and import activities with Bangladesh.
Sources said the decision on opening the customs missions abroad had long been pending since 2010.
The NBR got approval from the ministry of public administration and Internal Resources Division (IRD) in 2010 on its proposal for opening foreign customs mission. However, the move remained stalled as the finance minister declined to give its consent, customs officials said.
They said expansion of the customs wing to other countries is important for thwarting duty evasion through international trade.
After the scrapping of the pre-shipment inspection (PSI) system, many of the goods are being imported showing a lower price in the customs documents than that of the purchase price, said one official.
"Under-invoicing of imports is one of the major ploys to dodge customs duty," he said.
"The government has withdrawn the PSI system without taking adequate preparation, causing leakage of import revenue in recent times," the customs official added.
   doulot_akter@yahoo.com
Move on to open customs missions in 10 countries
Doulot Akter Mala | Published: February 17, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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