Drug licence, permit fee may go up by 15 times

The government is planning to increase the drug licence and permit fee by up to 15 times in the upcoming fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) in a bid to increase revenue.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has recently sent a proposal in this regard to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, National Board of Revenue, Ministry of Law and the Department of Narcotics Control, according to sources at the Security Service Division.

Industry insiders fear that this might create instability in the pharmaceutical sector and increase in the cost of services.

Md Saiful Islam, additional secretary (Narcotics Wing), Security Service Division, refused to speak on the matter when contacted by The Business Post.

Narcotic drugs

According to Security Service Division sources, for narcotic drugs (pethidine, morphine, fentanyl etc.), import-export, storing and production licence fee has been proposed to be increased from Tk 20,000 to Tk 50,000. In addition, while there is currently no fee for wholesale sales, a new fee of Tk 50,000 has been proposed.

The home ministry proposal has fixed the retail licence fee (pharmacy) of narcotic drugs at Tk 2,500 from the existing Tk 1200 in the metropolitan areas. For areas outside the metropolis, the fee has been proposed to be increased to Tk 2,000 from Tk 1,000 taka.

Similarly, the fee for using narcotics drugs at public and private clinics or hospitals has been proposed to be increased from Tk 1,200 to Tk 2,500 for metropolitan areas, and from Tk 1,000 to Tk 2,000 for non-metropolitan areas. At present, there is no fee for stocking the drugs, but a new fee of Tk 10,000 has been proposed.

Psychotropic, psychoactive substances

According to the home ministry proposal, the licensing and permit fee for importing, stocking and manufacturing psychotropic and psychoactive substances should be increased from Tk 20,000 to Tk 50,000.

Besides, a new fee of Tk 30,000 has been proposed for wholesale sale of the drugs. The licence fee for stocking the drugs at wholesale level has been proposed to be increased to Tk 5,000 from Tk 3,000.

For stocking and selling the drugs at the retail level in metropolitan areas, the fee has been proposed to be increased from Tk 1,000 to Tk 15,000-30,000, For non-metropolitan areas the fee has been proposed to be hiked from Tk 500 to Tk 10,000.

The use permit fee of the drugs, excluding marginal users, has been proposed to be increased from Tk 1,000 to Tk 3,000. Also, a new use permit fee of Tk 2,000 has been proposed for

A new permit fee for using psychotropic and psychoactive for medical and research purposes has been proposed at Tk 2,000. Similarly, the usage permit fee for other marginal users has been proposed as Tk 3,000.

Precursor chemicals

The import-export licence fee for precursor chemicals currently stands at Tk 20,000. The home ministry proposed to hike the fee to Tk 20,000 for up to 200 metric tonnes, Tk 40,000 for above 200 tonnes and up to 500 tonnes, and Tk 60,000 for above 500 tonnes.

The licence fee for storing the chemicals, which is currently set at Tk 3000 for storing at addresses other than the one mentioned in the licence, has been proposed to be increased to Tk 30,000.

Moreover, the home ministry proposal has set the import authorisation fee (per shipment) for the chemicals at Tk 300 for goods amounting a tonne or less as per annual allocation, while the minimum fee has been fixed at Tk 5,000.

Besides, the fee for no objection letter (NOC) for each duty clearance has been proposed to be increased to Tk 5,000 from the existing Tk 1,000.

The production and processing licence fee of precursor chemicals have been proposed to be hiked at Tk 50,000 from Tk 20,000, the wholesale sale licence fee has been set at Tk 30,000 and retail sale licence at Tk 20,000. A new licence fee for storing has been proposed at Tk 10,000. However, the fee is Tk 30,000 for storing chemicals anywhere else other than the address stated in the licence.

The use permit, excluding marginal users, for precursor chemicals has been proposed to be increased from Tk 1,000 to Tk 8,000 for chemicals amounting to 50 tonnes or less, and Tk 15,000 from Tk 5,000 for above 50 tonnes.