Bangladesh’s National Board of Revenue (NBR) has relaxed regulations to speed up the clearance of industrial raw materials and other goods imported duty-free under bonded warehouse licenses.
In an order issued on Tuesday, the NBR directed customs officials not to delay imports of raw materials under bonded warehouse facilities over discrepancies in Harmonized System (HS) codes or product descriptions.

Mismatches between HS codes or descriptions in bond licenses, utilization declarations (UDs), or import declarations often cause customs clearance delays. License holders frequently face holdups when the HS code or product description on the license differs from what customs officials find during inspections.

Under the updated guidelines, the NBR clarifies that if the first four digits of the HS code identified by customs align with those in the bonded license, the goods may be cleared promptly—provided the importer commits to update the HS code or description accordingly.

However, the bonded warehouse license holders must provide a declaration to the relevant field office to update the HS code or product description. Additionally, if customs identifies a completely different HS code, the goods can still be released within two days by updating the code in the Customs Bond Management System (CBMS).

The NBR anticipates that these steps will streamline procedures, accelerate the release of goods, and simplify export processes for bonded warehouse holders.
According to the revenue authority, by minimizing delays in customs clearance, the directive is intended to cut costs for exporters, enhance regulatory compliance, and support overall export expansion and foreign exchange earnings.

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