Close on heels of detecting various irregularities, including non-submission of details of annual export-import activities by the licence holders, the customs bond authority in Bangladesh has, reportedly, suspended around 700 bond licences of export-oriented units in recent times.
This was underlined in media reports which maintained that with the latest suspension order issued last month, the Customs Bond Commissionerate (CBC) Dhaka has a cumulative total of 3,505 Business Identification Number (BIN)-locked export-oriented industries even as the commissionerate, in a recent letter to all the customs houses across Bangladesh, reportedly, sent the names and details of the relevant exporters to take necessary measures for suspending their export-import activities.
According to reports, which cited concerned officials in this regard, customs cannot detect any abuse of bonded warehouse facility unless provided with the data on import volume of raw materials and export of finished goods thereof.
Exporting units, mainly in the apparel sector, faced the action, as they did not comply with the customs bond rules to furnish export-import details for auditing, reportedly, underlined the Commissioner of the CBC Dhaka Md. Shawkat Hossain while adding that letter was sent to the customs houses to make them aware of the BIN-locked companies even as he went on to add, “We fear that BIN-locked companies might import duty-free products using their bond licences.”
According to the customs law, the customs authority, reportedly, cannot allow exporters to carry out export-import activities without having an active BIN.