Bangladesh Customs will have to be transformed with state-of-the-art technology to streamline its services suitable for handling a huge volume of cargo at a time when the country's export earnings are expected to cross US$ 100 billion, experts said at a dialogue on Wednesday.
Stressing the need for modernisation of the customs, they suggested customs-to-customs and customs-to-other agencies' collaboration, and setting up an effective single window for streamlining the services.
The meeting was told that Bangladesh has set a target of USD 111 billion in export earnings by 2027.
Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) in association with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) organised the dialogue in the city, aimed at analysing the new provisions of the Customs Act 2023.
The law has been prepared to include international best practices such as the WCO-revised Kyoto Convention, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) safe framework of standards, and the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
The new law contains 269 clauses which was 286 in the Customs Act 1969.
Speaking at the dialogue, Dr S M Humayun Kabir, NBR Member responsible for Customs Audit, Modernisation and International Trade, said that the change is a permanent issue while the mind set of all concerned will be changed with frequent dialogues like the one held on Wednesday.
He referred to some of the provisions in the new law and stressed the need for holding consultations with the stakeholders before bringing any changes in the Act (section 262), AEO rules for the compliant traders, policies for voluntary disclosure clause 171(2), release of products through self clearance (clause 90(3), and extension of time refund application (clause 34).
These are all for simplification of the procedures and providing better services to the entrepreneurs, he added.
Md Abdul Kafi, former Commissioner of Customs Excise & VAT, moderated the session and highlighted a historical perspective of customs issues.
In her introductory speech, BUILD CEO Ferdaus Ara Begum informed that the customs should be developed into a modern agency that would be capable of handling a huge quantity of exports and imports to be required for the exports.
NBR First Secretary Raich Uddin Khan said the new provisions added to the new law includes electronic declaration, risk management, non-intrusive inspection (NII), post-clearance audit, advance ruling, National Enquiry Point, advanced passenger information, etc.
Rules, manuals, procedures, and SoPs will be prepared soon for implementation of the new law, he said.
Fariduddin, former NBR Member of Customs Policy, placed a broad outline of what more should be done for meeting the private sector needs in the changed situation of business.
He said that the HS code is a long-standing problem that needed to be resolved while the EPZs and BEZA would require integration with ASYCUDA. He suggested radical change in the customs procedures.
Md Mamun ur Rashid Askari, Joint Chief of the Bangladesh Trade & Tariff Commission, said that there are different provisions of TFA - some are mandatory, some optional and some others require best endeavour. "So, we need to be careful in handling priority TFA issues."
Mamun Kabir Tarafder, Deputy Director at the Land Port Authority, emphasised on the need of matching of scale for proper functioning of the scanners at the customs ports.
On maintaining the standard of the products, he emphasised on the need of certification by the importing countries, and informed that in the land ports, they are facing problems for standard-related issues as there is no deployment of Navy in the land ports.
He suggested developing a sound and timely data transfer system following the example of successful countries.
Mr Manzur Ahmed, FBCCI Adviser, emphasised on technological efficiency and introduction of customs valuation procedure along with the TFA and WCO systems.
Referring to section 83 of the new Act on exchange rate, he suggested simplification of language and bring necessary reforms in this regard.
Humayun Rashid, MD and CEO of Energypac Power Generation, said that they have been able to export to India under the SAPTA, but facing complexities in importing raw materials from there. He stressed the need for warehousing facilities to facilitate doing business.
Syed Mohammad Tarique, Director at AmCham, informed that they are supporting the preparation of logistics policy where simplification of customs procedures were emphasised.
He informed that the shipping lines sometimes fail to get the required information of import containers and, in that respect, they should not be harassed.
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