E-commerce companies will have to get registered online filling out a prescribed format prepared by the ministry of commerce to do business.

The ministry is now working on how to register all the e-commerce companies through an online system so that the service becomes hassle free but smart, AHM Safiquzzaman, additional secretary of the Commerce Ministry, told reporters on Tuesday.

On October 12, the government formed a committee with Safiquzzaman as its chairman to monitor e-commerce companies and recommend what needs to be done to protect the rights of consumers.

The committee sat in its first meeting on Monday and its second meeting is scheduled to be held next week, sources said.

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The committee will have to submit a report before the cabinet division within one month as per the deadline set in the working paper.

According to the sources, the committee will recommend the method of transparent financial transactions of e-commerce companies and how to bring them under VAT and Income Tax network.

The instructions that will come from the cabinet department will be implemented later.

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“The committee has jurisdiction over the method of recovering money and assets. The Cabinet Division will decide whether an administrator will be appointed or not,” Safiquzzaman said.

The Cabinet Division, Information and Communication Technology Division, Financial Institutions Division, Bangladesh Bank, Police, Defence Intelligence Directorate, National Security Intelligence Agency, Special Branch of Police, BFIU, NBR, National Telecommunication Monitoring Center, Police Criminal Investigation Division, Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) are working together to set up a standard system of e-commerce business.