Legalising multi-level marketing (MLM) businesses, the cabinet on Monday approved the draft of Multi-level Marketing (Control) Act.
The provisions of the new act keep include a five to 10 years jail time or a hefty fine of Tk5m for conducting multilevel businesses without a licence.
The law says those who are operating such businesses in the market will have to get mandatory licences, otherwise they would be sentenced to a minimum of six years in prison.
The punishment may be doubled for further violation of the law, it says.
Cabinet secretary Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan informed reporters about the new law at the secretariat.
He said the law would be enforced by an ordinance, as no parliament session is ongoing.
The cabinet secretary said the law also contains provisions that would provide the government with power to undertake operations against any MLM business firms. The government would have the authority to appoint one or more administrators to dismiss the management committee of a firm, if it is found fraudulent and if it violates customer rights.
