C&F agents at Chittagong Custom House go on day-long strike

Clearing and Forwarding (C&F) agents in the Chittagong Customs House, the largest customs station in the country, have observed day-long work abstention in various demands regarding the renewal of C&F agents' license, stopping of customs harassment regarding Harmonised System Code (HS) code, etc.

At the call of the Bangladesh Customs C&F Agents Association, the programme was also carried out simultaneously at all customs stations across the country to demand the repeal of the Customs Agent Licensing Rules-2020 and the law enacting the HS code and Customs Procedure Code for customs clearance of goods.

Due to the strike, customs duty was closed at the customs house. However, online bill of entry and bill of export submission was normal.

While 7,000 bills of entry and bills of export are submitted to the customs house every day, 1,865 bills of entry were filed online on Tuesday until 6:30pm.

Officials from the C&F Agents Association blocked the entrance to the Customs House on Wednesday afternoon.

Kazi Mahmud Imam Bilu, general secretary of Chattogram Custom C&F Agents Association, told TBS, "As part of the central programme, we have observed a strike. We expect the National Board of Revenue will comply with our reasonable demands."

Chittagong Custom House sources said that assessment of tariffs and issuance of exit notes were stopped due to the strike.

On 18 May, C&DF agents went on strike from 9am to 4pm demanding the renewal of their licenses. There are almost 3,000 licensed C&F agents in Chittagong Customs.