The commerce ministry has accepted the proposal of Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) for issuing trade licences for at least five years instead of one year to improve the ease of doing business.
The think-tank came up with the proposal at its ninth Trade and Investment Working Committee meeting in Dhaka Wednesday, according to a media statement.
Tapan Kanti Ghosh, senior secretary at the commerce ministry, and Md Saiful Islam, President of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry co-chaired the meeting.
Build CEO Ferdaus Ara Begum said they had studied the City Corporation Ideal Tax Schedule 2016 and Municipal Taxation Rules and found no legal bar for issuance of trade licences for five years.
Mohammed Nora Alam Siddique, joint secretary at the Local Government Division, said it could be implemented for municipalities and city corporations. "However, we need to review if union parishads can issue it under its present status."
Saiful called for introducing NID as the singular document for trade licence issuance following global practices.
Referring to Build's study "Improved Business Environment and Simplification of Company Registration Process, the think-tank's Chairperson Nihad Kabir suggested formulating a policy for availing certified copies from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.
The fill-up process of model articles of association (AoA) and memorandum of association (MoA) can be simplified to make the company registration process business-friendly, she added.