Digital commerce firms will have to obtain Business Identification Numbers (BINs) from the National Board of Revenue to continue operations, said Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh yesterday.

"The e-commerce companies that are currently doing business and the new ones must register with the Ministry of Commerce," he said.

"Each organisation will have a BIN, which must be presented to the BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) so that the BTRC can shut down their websites if necessary," said Ghosh.

The decision was taken at an emergency meeting held at the ministry to discuss controversies over some e-commerce platforms.

The meeting was attended by ministry officials, representatives from Bangladesh Bank, Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP), Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms and ICT Division.

Afterwards, Ghosh said any organisation not complying with a digital commerce guideline introduced recently by the ministry would first be issued a show cause notice.

If the response is not satisfactory, action will be taken against them under the existing law, he said.

Besides, the associated business plan or modus operandi will also be looked into, he said.

He said if the business practices were found to be violating laws of the country, those would be shut down.

The secretary said notices would be issued to the non-compliant organisations within the next 7 to 10 days.

The meeting decided that every e-commerce company must have a compliance officer, who will maintain liaison with the DNCRP so that complaints are addressed faster.

To ensure transparency in complaint settlement, a piece of software will be developed so that everyone involved in the case can see the settlement process, the meeting decided.