'Commerce ministry’s new panel to work on e-commerce law'

The commerce ministry is going to form a new committee to seek recommendations for making the law on e-commerce regulatory authority to safeguard the interest of the consumers and merchants.

As per its previous commitment made on Wednesday, the ministry will start formation of the new committee from tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, said Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh.

Apart from government officials, the representatives from private sector, university teachers, IT experts, e-commerce business insiders, economists, researchers and trade analysts would be accommodated in the new committee, Ghosh told The Daily Star over phone.

The existing committee is an inter-ministerial committee, which is formed with representatives from the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Bangladesh Bank, home ministry and other regulatory authorities of the government.

However, recommendations from a wider range of people are needed for making a draft to make a law to safeguard the interest of the people involved in the e-commerce business, an essential tool for consumers and merchants.

The commerce ministry will start formulation of a law with the draft recommendations of the proposed new committee.

The proposed law will authorise the commerce ministry to form the E-commerce Regulatory Authority, the secretary also said.

The government will start working from tomorrow to form the E-Commerce Authority, Central Complaint Management Cell and the Digital Commerce Act to streamline the country's emerging e-commerce business, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said in a media briefing on Wednesday.

Moreover, every e-commerce company will have to register under the e-commerce authority for a unique number for running the business using the e-commerce platforms.