The commerce ministry on Thursday issued a gazette notification on the Multi-level Marketing Activities (Control) Ordinance-2003 which went into effect as an ordinance on September 2.
The draft act was approved at a cabinet meeting on August 19. It is likely to be tabled at the next parliamentary session as a bill for the passage as an act.
With the new law in force, the government will have no problem now to appoint administrators for a MLM company if it is found guilty of fraud or in breach of customer rights.
According to the commerce ministry and cabinet division officials, the new law will pave the way for the government to appoint administrators at the trouble-stricken Destiny Group.
Earlier, the government had tried to appoint administrators at the Group amending the company law, but it met stiff resistance from the business leaders.
The new law proposes a prison sentence of 5-10 years, or a fine of Tk5m, for anyone conducting multilevel businesses without a license. It also specified goods that can be sold in multilevel marketing.
It made it mandatory for willing companies to be registered and licensed prior to starting their business. A license will be issued for a year and should be renewed for every year henceforth.
