7. Importation Requirements

3 Mins to read

Share
Dark
Light

Article summary

Did you find this summary helpful?

Thank you for your feedback

Mixture of Food Additives
Bangladesh

This section provides information on the importation process (shipment, customs, licenses required, and tests requirements).

7.1 Shipment Declaration

Category

Food

Food additives are considered as raw materials for the food industry. Thus, the following are the documents to be shared with the shipment [1]:

Certificate of Analysis (COA)
Commercial invoice with HS code reflected for the product
Test of radioactivity levels - A test report indicating the level of Cs-137 issued by the competent authority of the exporting country to be provided by the exporter with the goods
Bill of Lading
The exporter will provide a certificate for “Fit for human consumption.”

Product

Mixture of Food Additives

Same as "Category" above.

7.2 Customs Procedure

Category

Food

No CM license is required for food additives since these are raw materials for the food processing industry. CM license issued by BSTI is for the finished product only. Customs will ask for the COA after landing the product in Bangladesh.

For imported goods into Bangladesh, shipping agents submit their manifest data (containing a description of imported goods by ship) electronically to the Customs authority. In the case of import by truck (through land customs stations), the trucking company/driver submits IGM to the customs authority. Once the Import General Manifest (IGM) is submitted online (In the case of import by truck, manually), the nominated Clearing & Forwarding (C&F) Agent (or the importer himself) completes the goods declaration (popularly known as Bill of Entry or B/E) from their own premises and submits the goods declaration to Customs systems through ASYCUDA World. The declaration or B/E has to be made in a specific format known as a Single Administrative Document (SAD).

The Prescribed Bill of Entry and Bill of Export Form Order 2001 [2] issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) outlines the documentary submission requirements. For the release of goods from Customs, the following documents need to be submitted along with the declaration for all types of imports:

Letter of Credit (L/C)
Invoice
Bill of Lading/AWB/Truck Receipt/Railway Receipt
Packing List
“Country of Origin” Certificate
Insurance policy/cover note
VAT/BIN (Business Identification Number) Certificate

If the importer possesses all the required documents above including the COA, s/he will pay the necessary customs duty and taxes then the shipment will be cleared.

Product

Mixture of Food Additives

Same as "Category" above.

It is worth mentioning that there are several HS Code by Bangladesh customs [3] that can be used for this product as follows:

“IMPORTED BY VAT REGISTERED FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY” – HS Code: 04041010 total tax incident (TTI) is 58.60%.
“Imported in bulk by VAT registered food processing industries” – HS Code: 19019091 total tax incident (TTI) is 85%.

7.3 Manufacturing License

It is not mandatory to have a manufacturing license for importation.

7.4 Test for Importation

There are no specific testing parameters described in the regulations for importation. BSTI will confirm. Bangladesh customs will send the sample of food additives to BSTI/BCSIR for testing. Goods will be cleared after getting the test report of a similar product name with the label claim and complying with the standards or from Codex Alimentarius.

7.5 Other Notes or Requirements for Importation

Importers must be a local entity and can import if they have the following [1]:

Import registration certificate (IRC) (2 types):
1. Industrial IRC (for industry only)
2. Commercial IRC (for any importer)
Trade License
BIN (Business Identification Number) Certificate
TIN (Tax Identification Number) Certificate

7.6 Overview Flowchart for Importation Process

Foreign manufacturer/Exporter to prepare the shipment declaration > Opening of the Letter of credit (L/C) by the Bangladeshi importer > Shipment by the foreign manufacturer > Clearing & Forwarding (C&F) agent of the importer, a logistic company will visit Bangladesh customs > Bangladesh customs will ask for the testing report from BSTI/BCSIR > Test report together with the necessary documents for submission to customs > Goods are cleared/received.