Apparel exporters have demanded continuation of services given by customs bond commissionerates of the National Board of Revenue without imposing any penalty and causing harassment until the new wastage rate on production process is reset by the commerce ministry.
The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association have recently sent a joint letter to commerce secretary Md Jafar Uddin, seeking an interim arrangement to avoid hassles and penalty by customs authorities.
BGMEA president Rubana Huq, acting BKMEA president Mohammad Hatem and BTMA president Mohammad Ali Khokon signed the letter.
The ministry forwarded the letter to the revenue board for taking measures.
The associations said that the commerce ministry on December 1998 set the total wastage or depreciation limit at 16 per cent on production process of apparel products.
Of the rate, the ministry allowed the depreciation at 7 per cent for production of fabrics from yarn to knitting and dying finishing and 9 per cent for production of knit garments from fabrics.
The apparel makers have been demanding an increase in the depreciation limit by more than double.
The commerce ministry is now scrutinising the demand and holding discussions with stakeholders, apparel makers said, adding that a committee of the ministry was now working on the issue.
They said that entrepreneurs had been facing crisis in getting import entitlement, suspension of bonded warehouse licence facility and unusual hassle in export and import process due to the lower rate of depreciation.
Meeting the criteria in the current context is impossible due to changes in production process, difference in yarn quality and buyers’ requirements for high valued diversified products, they said.
The wastage rate should be 45 per cent, the BGMEA said in a previous letter to the commerce ministry.
The Customs Bond Commissionerate ignores the actual depreciation and issues notices demanding customs duty and value-added tax on yarn excess to 16 per cent depreciation, the associations said in the letter to the NBR.
Exporters are also failing to match the amount of imported raw materials and actual exported goods during the year-end audit, the letter said.
In many cases, customs bond authorities stop renewal of bond licence or create complexities in giving import entitlement along with imposing penalty, the associations alleged.
In this context, the NBR should continue offering the existing services without any hassle and penalty until the issue is resolved for smooth export and import activities, bonded warehouse facility until resetting the wastage limit.
Officials of the customs bond commissionerates said that they issued demand notices as per law but the regular activities of the exporters were not interrupted.
Customs bond offices are neither suspending regular services nor bond licences over the issue, they said.
Source : New Age
