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The importers of raw materials for readymade garment units are facing trouble releasing their goods imported on the free-of-cost (FOC) basis due to alleged dilly-dallying tactics of officials concerned at the Chittagong Customs House (CCH).
Chattogram Customs Clearing and Forwarding Agents have alleged that customs assessment officials are taking much time in verifying the bills of entries for products imported on the FOC basis, for which the delivery of goods from the Chattogram seaport is facing an unusual delay.
The import of raw materials for the garment exporters under FOC constitutes 25-30 per cent of the total imports for the country's largest export sector that has set a target to earn foreign exchange worth US$ 30.37 billion in the current fiscal year 2017-18 ending on June 30 next.
Due to delay in delivery of imported raw materials, garment manufacturing units, mostly in Dhaka and Chattogram regions, are also facing severe production hazards, local garment manufacturers alleged.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) leaders said foreign buyers of Bangladesh garments ship raw materials for their import items on the FOC basis for lowering the cost and easing the export and import of the same in the interest of both importers and exporters.
On the other hand, the assessment officials at the CCH said they have found a number of anomalies in the export-related information provided by the banks concerned and the CCH was required to verify those import bills by contacting the banks and the BGMEA office.
Every file requires 10-15 days for doing and so delivery of cargo is getting delayed at the importers' end, for which production is also being hampered at factories, the businesses said.
Vice President of Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry AM Mahbub Chowdhury raised the issue with Chairman of the National Board of Revenue Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan in the pre-budget meeting with the directors of the CMCCI at its office in the city on April 21 last.
Following directives from the NBR boss, representatives of CMCCI and BKMEA held a meeting with the Commissioner of Customs Dr AKM Nuruzzaman on April 24 at the CCH office in a bid to find a solution to the problems.
To detect non-existent importers, the meeting decided that as per import policy rules and circular issued by the NBR and orders from the Customs Commissioner of the CCH, import consignments will be assessed upon verification of existence of the exporter concerned.
To ease the verification process, the exporter will submit related bank certificate, Customs Bill of Entry C-Number, shipment date, quantity of import goods mentioning the entry page of the passbook including an export data list of the previous year. The assessment officer will also maintain a data list register on his own computer.
As soon as he clicks the C-Number of the importer concerned, he will get all details about him and his previous records on export, sources concerned said.
The Commissioner of Chittagong Customs House directed the assessment officers to expedite assessment of the remaining FOC files and release them at the soonest. In the meeting, he sought separate lists of the remaining FOC files from BGMEA, BKMEA and concerned importers to facilitate smooth release of the files. However, according to sources, the latest measures were yet to have any tangible impact on the cargo delivery.