Parliament last night passed “Bangladesh Ship Recycling Bill, 2018”, which has provisions for imprisonment and fines for violation of the law.

According to the bill placed by Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, a zone would be established in Chittagong for the ship-recycling industry under section 4 of the draft law and the owners would have to run their yards there.

The draft law makes it mandatory for yard owners to have the lives of every employee in their yards insured.

The yards would also have to abide by the relevant international laws and conventions, the bill said.

The bill said if anyone established a yard without permits, the punishment could be up to two years' jail or a fine between Tk 10 lakh and Tk 30 lakh or both.

The punishment for importing a ship without a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the shipping ministry was set at two years' jail or a fine between Tk 10 lakh and Tk 30 lakh.

Recycling a ship without NOC could result in a jail sentence of up to two years or a fine between Tk 10 lakh and Tk 30 lakh.

The punishment for producing a fake NOC was set at five years' jail or a fine between Tk 5 lakh and Tk 20 lakh.

In the case of setting up yards outside the zone, the punishment would be up to two years' jail or a fine between Tk 10 lakh and Tk 30 lakh, according to the bill.

Under the draft law, a 13-member board, with an additional secretary of the industries ministry as its chairman, would oversee the activities of the ship recycling industry and sit for meetings at least thrice a year.

As per the proposed law, the government would set up treatment, storage, and disposal facility within three years after enacting the law for management of wastage produced from ship recycling.

The bill was passed in a voice vote and now awaits the nod of the president.