International Customs Day today
The National Board of Revenue has set up a central risk management unit to prevent duty evasion by traders through misdeclaration and other malpractices in international trades, NBR member (customs policy) Farid Uddin told reporters at a briefing on Sunday.
The unit consisting of seven officials will categorise the stakeholders and products involved in import and export business as high risk, medium risk and low risk to minimise the risk of duty evasion, smuggling and money laundering in the course of international trades, he said.
NBR officials said traders, products, consignments, countries, agents and other parties involved in import and export business would be sorted out in the three categories based on their previous records and duty evasion risks with the help of customs offices of other countries.
Traders and products under the low-risk category will face minimum intervention in customs clearance, they said.
The revenue board organised the briefing on the eve of the International Customs Day to be celebrated today (Monday) across the country along with 179 member countries of the World Customs Organisation.
NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman said that they would ensure better coordination among the stakeholders involved in the border trade to facilitate import and export activities through reducing time and complexities in the process.
‘Coordinated boarder management: an inclusive approach for connecting stakeholders’ is the theme for the day this year, he said.
Stakeholders in the border trade include traders, customs, Bangladesh Border Guard, Immigration Police, Quarantine Department, port authorities, banks, C&F agents and transport owners.
There are allegations that international trades are hampered because of lack of coordination among the agencies.
Farid also revealed some other steps taken or to be taken by the revenue board for trade facilitation.
The government is also going to introduce National Single Window to bring all the stakeholders under a single platform to remove hassles traders face and reduce time in the international trade, he said.
The revenue board on Saturday launched online letters of credit or e-LCs for online verification of LCs to prevent fake LCs.
‘Though the system remained suspended on Sunday due to some technical and other problems, it will resume Monday,’ he said.
He also said that all customs houses and major land customs stations were connected with the Asycuda World system and now each of those could verify value and prices of the products imported through other ports and LC stations.
Nojibur said that the International Customs Day would be celebrated centrally in Dhaka and at nine other customs houses and customs commissionaretes across the country.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will unveil commemorative postal stamps and envelope published by the Bangladesh Postal Department on the occasion, he said.
NBR commissioner Shahabuddin Nagori also spoke at the briefing.
-With New Age input
