End harassment at customs: commodity importers

Daily essential commodity and raw material importers have called for proper management in the ports to bring an end to the harassment of the customs and shipping agents.

 They came up with the call at the first meeting of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI)'s standing committee on import today.

The importers complained that they are harassed at the time of releasing goods, which cost them extra time and money for business and production.

The Chittagong port's lab does not have necessary testing facilities and only one chemical examiner is not sufficient for faster testing and certifications.

In addition, goods are frequently sent to different university labs to be examined as the port lab is not capable, which takes more than a month causing interruption in the product supply chain, businessmen claimed.

The customs authority fines up to 300 per cent for the unwilful mistakes in HS Code where shipping agents also charge different fees, including documentation, survey, security fees, and all these cost additional Tk 10 crore a day, members of the committee informed.

The importers with less experience mainly make mistakes in HS code, FBCCI's Senior Vice President Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu said at the event as the chief guest.

Hence, he urged the importers to learn about the HS codes properly.

He further said its businessmen's responsibility to help the government in revenue collection.

Director In-Charge of the Committee and FBCCI Vice President Md Amin Helaly also spoke at the meeting presided over by the Chairman of the Committee Mohammad Khorshed Alam.