Garment exporters have strongly opposed a decision of the National Board of Revenue permitting a private organisation to set up a quality control centre for inspecting the quality of apparel products before shipment.
The revenue board on April 5 permitted Ispahani Summit Alliance Terminals Ltd to set up a special bonded warehouse and the quality centre.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association in a letter to the NBR demanded for withdrawal of the permission for the sake of export of RMG products.
Exporters also blamed that the revenue board took the decision to facilitate a vested quarter to run monopoly business in the sector.
A high official of the revenue board, however, told New Age on Tuesday that the permission was given on the basis of buyers’ requirement as they were showing reluctance to send their quality control team to Bangladesh on security reasons and to reduce costs.
Some international buyers appointed the ISATL, a joint venture of Alliance Holdings Ltd, MM Ispahani Ltd and Summit Group, for conducting quality control inspection and for doing other activities including packing for shipment, he said.
The joint venture has the backing of the high ups of the Awami League-led government, sources said.
He also said that the third party quality control system was not a new one as another 20 private organisations were doing the same since 1998.
Exporters, in general, are not bound to make inspection of their products in the centre. They will have to send their products to the centre if their buyers want, he said.
The entrepreneurs of Alliance Holdings Ltd and Summit Group have influential relatives within the Awami League-led government, sources said.
BGMEA leaders, however, said that there were no such third party quality control organisations in the country.
In a letter sent to the revenue board on April 13, BGMEA president Atiqul Islam said that the decision would increase cost of transportation and security of products to be exported if the quality control activities were done outside the factory by a third party.
It will also take extra time to complete the export procedures reducing lead time in export, he said.
‘The revenue board did not take any opinion of the BGMEA, the largest association of RMG products exporters, which is unfortunate,’ he said.
Quality control officers assigned by the international buyers examine the quality of products inside the factory before shipment and then the products, after packing, are handed over to the representatives of the buyers for shipment, he said.
Currently, exporters get the scope to alter the items if buyers’ quality control team found any fault in any set of products during inspection inside the factory, BGMEA leaders said.
But if the quality control activities are done by third party at a private Inland Container Depot or Container Freight Stations situated near ports, altering any products will be costly and time consuming as the products will have to be brought back to the factories, they said.
Exporters Association of Bangladesh president, also former president of BGMEA, Abdus Salam Murshedy, said that the decision was totally unacceptable as it would severely hamper export business.
‘The decision has been taken to provide special privilege of monopoly business to a certain quarter,’ he said.
He also said that only C&A, a UK-based international buyer, conduct their quality control tasks by their nominated organisation at Chittagong before shipment.
Source: New Age