The Government’s decision to progressively switch from the tried-and-true customs digital platform Asycuda to a more sophisticated system has caused more fear than support among those involved in foreign trade and domestic revenue.
Businesses, economists and customs authorities anticipate a potential setback in import-export operations if such experiments are conducted on a ‘proven successful system’.
Customs personnel consider the Government’s decision to be ‘suicidal’ because the nation is still heavily reliant on import earnings.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) created Asycuda, also known as the Automated System of Customs Data, in 1993 for Bangladesh’s customs-data hub. It is connected to Bangladesh Bank, the Export Promotion Bureau and other significant public and private organisations via the country’s information superhighway.
According to National Board of Revenue officials, Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, who is also in charge of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, gave the NBR instructions to think about withdrawing from the system in order to lessen reliance on software or vendors.
Following a two-week systemic halt in July 2025 following the approval of the national budget for the fiscal year 2025–26, the reformative interim administration issued its directive.
Customs authorities claim that the system has been slowed down in order to adjust the tax-duty rates in accordance with the Finance Ordinance 2025, which outlines the budgetary measures.
Two meetings have already taken place to discuss whether the Government may switch from Asycuda to a new digital platform, one chaired by Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb and the other by Kazi Mustafizur Rahman, a customs member of the NBR who just retired.
He raised a red flag by outlining the potential complexity of such experiments involving the state exchequer’s income mobilisation. He acknowledged that there had been some disturbances in the past but that they had been fixed by system upgrades, saying that Asycuda World is a proven successful system that has been operating smoothly throughout the years.
The sophisticated Asycuda system was upgraded to Asycuda ++ and then Asycuda World in 2021. In order to handle the growing amount of export trade, exporters have long urged that the system be made speedier.
However, Mahmud Hassan Khan Babu, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), believes that switching from the Asycuda system is not necessary.
More than a hundred countries use the Asycuda system, a highly standardised domain-based digital platform, according to trade economist Masrur Reaz, Founder and Chairman of Policy Exchange Bangladesh.
He points out that because the Government recently introduced the Bangladesh Single Window, which is based on the Asycuda system, it should allow the window to function properly rather than tinkering with Asycuda.
