Raw cotton importers will now get their customs assessment done before submitting plant quarantine certificates in a relaxed facility that will speed up goods release.
But the customs authorities will only release the imported consignment of cotton after getting the certificate issued by state-run quarantine centre, based in Chittagong.
In an office order on Monday, the Chittagong Customs House (CCH) said customs officials will complete assessment process of raw cotton imported under duty-free scheme through the Chittagong port without plant quarantine certificates.
Importers or their clearing and forwarding agents will ensure submission of the certificates while securing the release of consignment from the port, the order said.
Until recently, it was mandatory to submit the plant quarantine certificates before completing customs assessment of imported raw cottons.
Upon request from the Chittagong Plant Quarantine Centre in May 2017, the customs house made submission of original quarantine certificate from the centre mandatory before conducting customs assessment of all plants and plant-goods.
The customs house stopped conducting customs assessment of cotton without the certificates.
When such a system was in place, raw cotton importers were facing difficulties to expedite the release of their goods, which caused delay in supplying the raw material for readymade garments exporters.
Production in spinning mills has also faced disruption due to the delay in release of cotton from the port, according to the order.
Officials said the customs authority has relaxed the system in response to repeated requests from the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) during the last one and a half years.
Since August last year, the BTMA wrote at least four letters to the National Board of Revenue, asking for reinstatement of the previous procedures of submission of the certificate.
BTMA secretary Monsoor Ahmed said the condition affected lead time in exports of readymade garment products as least by four to five days.
Importers needed time to manage the certificate from the quarantine office, he said.
Another three to four days were required for completing the procedures and customs assessment to release the goods, he added.
Officials said that there would be no problems now as the release of imported cotton would be expedited as importers would get some time to collect quarantine certificate when assessment would be in progress.
The new process will save time and cost of importers, they said.
The BTMA said that almost half the country's total cotton import comes from India, around 40 per cent come from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Africa, and nine per cent from the United States and the rest from other countries.
Quarantine certificate from Plant Quarantine Centres is not required from Indian cotton imported through Benapole.
Bangladesh is the second-largest cotton importer, after China.
The country is overwhelmingly dependent on imported cotton as domestic production can meet barely 2.0 per of the demand.
Last year, Bangladesh imported more than 7.3 million bales of cotton mostly from India, Uzbekistan, some African Countries and the US.
doulot_akter@yahoo.com