Rama Dewan Joint Chief

Bangladesh Tariff Commission &

A.H.M. Shafiquzzaman Deputy Secretary

Ministry of Commerce

Structure of the Presentation

Bangladesh at a glance

Trade growth of Bangladesh

Trade Facilitation Initiatives in Bangladesh

WTO Trade facilitation Agreement

Framework Agreement (FA) on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific

National Single Window

Implementation Challenges

Bangladesh at a glance Location: Between 200 34' and 260 38' north latitude and between

880 01' and 920 41' east longitude Boundary: North: India (West Bengal and Meghalaya) West: India (West Bengal) East: India (Tripura and Assam) South East: Myanmar South: Bay of Bengal Area: 147,570 square km. Total population: 160 million Life expectancy at birth: 69 years Political system: Parliamentary democracy Capital: Dhaka (biggest city in Bangladesh)

Trade growth of Bangladesh

Source: World Development Indicators (2015), World Bank

Trade Facilitation Initiatives in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has already pursuing liberalized trading regime

All rules, regulations and statutory orders related to trade facilitation are published and made available in the website.

Import licensing system was abolished back in 1985 for all products other than the products which require special import permit for health, environment and other reason.

Number of pre-clearance signatures has gone down to 5 from 25, and export clearance time for 95% of consignments has been reduced from 72 hours in 1999 to 3 hours now and Customs is trying to further reduce the procedure and release time by automation.

Trade Facilitation Initiatives in

Bangladesh (Cont….)

ASYCUDA world, has been put in all major Custom stations in Bangladesh

In 2009, Customs installed four container scanners at the Chittagong port to detect contraband/illegal shipments and weapons, aimed at ensuring security while facilitating legitimate trade.

A selectivity system has also been implemented at the ports

Chittagong Port Authority has introduced container management system (CTM), which has facilitated automation of import operations.

National Board of Revenue (NBR): Customs Modernization Strategic Action Plan 2014-2017

Trade Facilitation Initiatives in

Bangladesh (Cont….)

Bangladesh Trade Portal: Hosted by Ministry of Commerce, the portal provides an accessible, logical, helpful window for traders to access important regulatory and procedural information needed to export and import.

A post-audit system is also under development to verify the accuracy of green channel and yellow channel clearances. The Government plans to extend the system to include both imports and exports and to implement the system at other customs offices.

Draft of new Customs Act has been approved in principle by Cabinet, and will soon be placed in National Parliament for approval.

Trade Facilitation Initiatives in

Bangladesh (Cont….)

The introduction of Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) is under active consideration at the NBR

Time Release Studies (TRS) of Chittagong Port and Benapole Port was conducted in 2013 and 2014.

Modernization activities under SASEC is ongoing.

As per discussion of BIMSTEC Goa Declaration at 8th BRICS Summit it was decided to expedite BIMSTEC Agreement as well as to draft separate Trade Facilitation Agreement under BIMSTEC. Bangladesh as the host country of 21 BIMSTEC TNC meeting is working on the draft of BIMSTEC TFA.

WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)

Bangladesh has ratified WTO TFA on 27 September 2016

National Trade facilitation Committee (NTFC):

NBR has established a 19 members committee under the chairmanship of Member (Customs) comprising officials/representatives of relevant ministries/ departments / trade bodies

Framework Agreement (FA) on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific

Ministry of Commerce is collecting opinion from relevant stakeholders regarding FA

Inter-ministerial meeting will be held by the end of February 2017.

National Single Window (NSW)

Government has decided to establish NSW

NBR will act as the lead agency for setting up the NSW

NSW working group has been established

NSW would be established under the Regional Connectivity Project of the World Bank

NBR formed a Project Implementation Unit to establish the NSW with NBR Member (Customs Modernization) as the Project Director

NBR plans Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 60 OGAs to effectively implement NSW.

A sub-committee will draft the MoU in consultation with the members of NSW Working Group.

The Planning Commission has approved DPP.

Implementation Challenges

Trade Facilitation measures involves

Customs &

Other Border/Government Agencies (OGAs) that are involved in trade

Though Customs remains the key player, implementation of paperless trade facilitation requires modernization of both Customs and OGAs

Implementation Challenges (Cont…)

Other OGAs (in Bangladesh) having major responsibility include-

Chief Controller of Import & Export

Plant Quarantine Department

Atomic Energy Commission

Drug Administration Directorate

Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute

Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority

Port authorities

Implementation Challenges (Cont…)

Customs has undergone significant changes since the early 1990s through many donor-funded reform programs.

Customs is more advanced in terms of its own modernization and implementation towards paperless trade facilitation measures but OGAs are not so advanced. Therefore, implementation of paperless trade facilitation measures remain critical challenges for OGAs .

Resource constraint for modernization of OGAs

Development Partners Engaged in TF Implementation in Bangladesh

World Bank program

Asian Development Bank SASEC program

International Finance Corporation SARTI program

USAID Bangladesh program

THANK YOU