Home ›› 13 Mar 2023 ›› Front
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to extend the bond licence renewal period from two years to three years.
In a recent letter sent to the revenue board, BGMEA president Faruque Hassan has made the request in a bid to maintain the capacity and the growth of readymade garment export trade, facilitate business and reduce the cost of doing business. He also called for issuing necessary orders to this end.
The BGMEA president in the letter said, “The export-oriented garment industry is currently under various pressures both locally and internationally. The Russia-Ukraine war has created instability in the global economy, posing a new challenge to our apparel industry.”
“The government is also providing policy support for the export growth and capacity building of the apparel sector,” he added.
“Aligning with policy support, the Ministry of Commerce has already extended the renewal period of Import Registration Certificate (IRC) and Export Registration Certificate (ERC) from one year to five years for the ease of doing business. As a result, the time and the cost of exporters have been reduced,” the letter reads.
“Besides, amidst the ongoing crisis and ensuring the survival of exporters in the global competitive market, nowadays it would be appropriate to extend the bond licence renewal period to three years instead of two years,” it added.
The letter mentions that as per the relevant statutory regulatory order (SRO), now bonded warehouse licence has to be renewed after two years. In many cases, exporters cannot renew the bond licences in the stipulated time due to various problems relating to their business. So, the factories face fines and suffer financially which affect export costs and reduce the industry’s capacity.
“It is not desirable amidst this crucial juncture. Besides, the working hours of traders have been reduced due to severe traffic jam, for which the firms, in many cases, cannot carry out the business activities on time.” The BGMEA president has also thanked the NBR for taking a fresh move to extend the scope of bond warehousing. According to the NBR circular, an exporting company can use a bonded warehouse licence for importing duty-free raw materials by its three active factories or units. Before that two units of a garment exporting company were allowed to operate with one bond licence since 2008, but it is not enough for the big companies to meet the growing demand. Garment exporters had long been seeking bond facility for the multiple factories of each company under a single bond licence.
