In October, 2018, the Cabinet cleared the bill. But the tenure of the then 9th parliament expired before the bill was passed. So, the bill was again placed at the cabinet just to follow formalities.
Draft of the act was approved by the Cabinet just for formalities as no change was made in the 2018’s finally approved law.
The bill will make the Customs Act 1969 a time-befitting and modern one.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed the bill and it was sent to the respective scrutiny committee. The committee was asked to submit its report within 30 days.
It states that the government can formulate separate customs-related rules for the hi-tech parks and other specialised zones set up under the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority Act, Bangladesh Economic Zones Act 2010, and Bangladesh Hi-tech Park Act Authority 2010.
As per the bill, the government will be able to formulate the rules under the law in consultation with the National Board of Revenue.