Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has urged the authorities to ease the export-import audit activities for the garment industry.

A delegation of BGMEA made the request during a meeting held recently with the Customs Bond Commissionerate Kazi Mustafizur Rahman at the CBC office.

The BGMEA delegation included Senior Vice President SM Mannan (Kochi), Vice President Md. Shahidullah Azim, Director Asif Ashraf, former Director Munir Hossain, Chairman of Mitali Group Syed Abu Yousuf Abdullah and Managing Director of Sparrow Apparels Shovon Islam (Shawn).

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Additional Commissioners of Customs Bond Commissionerate Khaled Mohammad Abu Hossain and Md. Zakir Hossain were also present at the meeting, BGMEA said in a media release on Tuesday.

The BGMEA leaders said the Covid-19 pandemic created an unprecedented crisis in the RMG industry of Bangladesh and it was still struggling to recover from the massive impacts. 

The support and cooperation of the Customs Bond Commissionerate would help the RMG industry to address the current challenges and turn around, they added.

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They requested for an interim arrangement to continue existing services for smooth export-import and bonded warehouse facility and remove hassle and penalty of the customs authority until re-fixation of the minimum limit of wastages in manufacturing knitwear. 

The delegation also called for removing complexity in the process of including description of raw materials and other related materials with their HS code in bond licences. 

The Commissioner of the Customs Bond Commissionerate assured the BGMEA delegation of cooperation to resolve the issues.