Bangladesh weighs deregulation as businesses challenge import-export certificates

Bangladesh is reviewing a decades-old trade control system that requires businesses to obtain separate Import Registration Certificates (IRCs) and Export Registration Certificates (ERCs), rules rooted in British wartime controls and Pakistan’s 1950 Import and Export (Control) Act.

Businesses can now renew the certificates for five years, but trade groups say the system adds cost, delays, and bureaucracy, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. A 2022 commerce ministry notice said traders may need as many as 49 certificates and permits from the Office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports.

Mostafa Abid Khan of the Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute said Bangladesh should move toward deregulation and allow trade using business identification numbers.

Commerce secretary Md Ataur Rahman Khan said the government is reviewing the 1950 law and will remove certificate requirements deemed unnecessary, with possible amendments or repeal if the law no longer serves a purpose.