Importers demand harassment-free Customs, proper management at ports

Importers of the daily essential commodities and raw materials called for proper management in the ports and an end to the harassment of the Customs and shipping agents.

At the meeting of the FBCCI standing committee on import on Wednesday, importers also complained that they have been harassed by the port and Customs authority, shipping agents while taking release of the imported goods.

This harassment take extra time and money of traders, pushing the business and production cost higher, they added, reads a press release.

Customs authority fines up to 300% for the unintentional mistakes in Harmonised System (HS) Codes and shipping agents charge different fees including documentation, survey, security fees which cost additional Tk10 crore per day, importers told the committee.

As chief guest, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI) Senior Vice President Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu urged the importers with less experience in HS code for better study in this regard.

He said it is the businessmen's responsibility to help the government in revenue collection and urged them to come forward in this regard.

"Like India and Singapore, Bangladesh should introduce Goods and Services Tax (GST) instead of VAT as it will help ease the process of revenue collection, decrease tax evasion," the Senior Vice President opined.

Goods are frequently sent to different university labs to be examined as the port lab is not capable, which takes more than a month causing interruption in the product supply chain, businessmen claimed.

Citing that Europe and USA standard products are being manufactured in Bangladesh, Director In-Charge of the FBCCI committee Md Amin Helaly called the businessmen to harness this capacity and ensure compliance.

Chairman of the committee and A2P group Mohammad Khorshed Alam presided over the meeting

Among others, FBCCI Director Md Rejaul Kariem Rejnu, Rabbani Jabbar, Bijoy Kumar Kejriwal, Hafez Harun, Abu Motaleb, Md Iqbal Shahriar, Mohammed Bazlur Rahman, Md Khairul Huda Chopol, Committee Co-chairmen Altaf Hossain Chowdhury (Bacchu), Md Azizur Rahman, Md Nadimul Hakim, Syed Md Bakhtiar were present at the meeting.