Bonded warehouse licence tenure extended to 3 years

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has extended the tenure of licences for bonded warehouses to three years from two years to cut the time and cost for exporters.

With this, the revenue authority removed the discrepancy in the tenure of bonded warehouse licences held by factories located inside the export processing zones (EPZs) and outside the estates.

Prior to this, the validity of licences for the factories inside the EPZs was three years, while it was two years for those outside the zones.

"We have now made the validity period of all bonded warehouse licences the same irrespective of their locations," said a senior official of the NBR.

Under the licencing facility, exporters can import raw materials duty-free to make goods for overseas markets.

In a notification recently, the NBR said bonded warehouse licences could be renewed within three years if the factory is audited in at least two years. The licensees will have to have involvement in export-import for at least one year.

Mohammad Hatem, executive president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the extension of the validity period will not benefit exporters.

"We can renew licences automatically through our associations by paying the fees. The problem lies in the audit, which is done every year. We demanded the authorities carry out the audit every two years instead of every year."

The NBR, however, has increased the licence renewal fees for factories not affiliated with any trade body.

Firms having a membership with an association will be able to have their licences renewed by paying an annual fee of Tk 5,000. The fee will be Tk 10,000 for those without membership with any platform, according to the notification.