August 25, 2020: The National Board of Revenue is going to frame rules to facilitate a faster release and disposal of perishable goods from ports.
Customs wing of the revenue board has already prepared a draft of the rules tilted ‘Perishable Goods Speedy Disposal Rules-2020’ with a provision of releasing goods within 24 hours of submission of bill of entry of imported goods.
Customs will also be able to sell or transfer of seized and unreleased perishable goods that could not be disposed of through auction due to various reasons to the state-owned agencies such as Trading Corporation of Bangladesh at minimum prices, the draft rules stated.
The NBR has also identified a total of 53 products, including fish, fruit, live animals, seeds, medicine, raw materials for medicine, pulse, sugar, frozen fish and meat, chocolate, biscuit, tea, onion, garlic and other spices, raw hide, food items with six-month validity, cosmetics with one-year validity and other goods with risks of faster quality fall.
Officials said that the NBR had sought opinions from its field-level customs offices, including customs houses, on the draft rules.
The rules will be finalised accommodating the opinions to be received from field offices and made effective through issuing a statutory regulatory order, they said.
They said that the NBR was going to frame the rules as per condition of the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organisation to facilitate ease of doing business.
As per WTO-TFA, customs authorities should ensure fast-track clearance of perishable goods.
According to the draft rules, customs officials at the customs houses will complete all procedures, including customs assessment and examination to release the import and export goods within 24 hours of submission of bill of entry if taxes and duties are cleared.
There will also be a specific desk or group of officials at customs houses to handle the perishable goods.
Importers and exporters will be able to submit bill of entry 24-hour a day using the customs’ computer system.
Goods seized for violation of import and export policies, orders and for other reasons such as import of prohibited or restricted goods and unreleased goods will be cleared through auction.
Customs authorities will be able to sell the seized and unreleased goods such as sugar and salt to the government agencies like TCB after determining minimum prices for the goods without arranging auction.
A senior customs official told New Age on Sunday that customs houses and customs commissionerates usually ensured faster clearance of perishable goods by their own best practices.
For example, at Benapole customs house, clearance of perishable goods takes only several hours, he said.
But there is no legal mandatory provision in the customs law for fast-track clearance of perishable goods as well as no comprehensive list of such goods, he said.
So, the NBR has decided to frame the rules to give a legal base of faster clearance of perishable goods and to comply with the WTO-TFA as Bangladesh is a signatory to the agreement, he added.
Source: NEWAGE
