The country’s apparel accessories and plastic goods manufacturers would be entitled to get utilisation permission (UP) from their respective associations in exporting goods from next fiscal year.
Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGAPMEA) and Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BPGMEA) would get the authority of issuing UP certificates in favour of their members.
The National Board of Revenue took the primary decision in response to a long standing demand by the exporters, said a senior official yesterday.
The tax authority has primarily decided to allow it to avoid unnecessary costs and harassments, he said, adding that a summary has already been forwarded to the finance minister for consideration.
If provided, members of the associations will enjoy duty-free import of raw materials to execute export orders, he said.
Both the industries are now producing and exporting a good number of items including buttons, cartons, packages, elastic, embroidery, labels, poly bags, sewing thread, zippers, plastic items etc.
The tax authorities were earlier against providing the support as a section of the RMG exporters abusing such facility, another NBR official said.
Industry insiders said allowing them for issuing UP certificates would help minimise the hidden costs and time that would help grow the sectors.
BGAPMEA President Rafez Alam Chowdhury said providing the facility will help minimise hassles and unwanted complexities being faced by the exporters and will help expedite the export process.
“We are exporting 30-35 items in many countries. To make the export process faster like the BGMEA and BKMEA, the government should allow us issuing UP certificates to our association members,” he said.
He also urged the government to allow the facility with easy conditions as being provided to the BGMEA and BKMEA.