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The Import Policy Order (IPO) is Bangladesh's primary statutory instrument for governing the country's import regime, issued by the Ministry of Commerce under section 3 of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act 1950. IPOs are typically issued as three-year rolling frameworks; the 2025-2028 order replaces IPO 2021-2024 and is the structural import-side complement to the Export Policy 2024-2027 (filed 2024-02-25).
Core provisions:
1. Bonded-warehouse zero-duty import entitlement for export-oriented industries: Firms in the ready-made garments (RMG), leather and leather products, footwear, shipbuilding, furniture and furnishings, and related export-oriented sectors retain access to the bonded-warehouse mechanism allowing duty-free and VAT-free import of essential raw materials and accessories. This directly underpins Bangladesh's ~USD 45bn/year RMG export base (world #2 behind China) and the complex buyer-of-record networks (H&M, Inditex, Walmart, Target, M&S, C&A, PVH).
2. Mandatory e-customs adoption: IPO 2025-2028 requires that all customs duty and tax collection be conducted exclusively through electronic systems — an upgrade from the partial e-customs implementation under IPO 2021-2024. This aligns with the NBR (National Board of Revenue) digital transformation agenda and the World Bank / ADB-backed ASYCUDA++ migration.
3. WTO NTB alignment ahead of LDC graduation (November 2026): Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate from Least Developed Country (LDC) status in November 2026, at which point it will lose EU Everything-But-Arms (EBA) zero-duty access and face estimated 10-12% average MFN tariffs on EU exports. The IPO introduces explicit provisions to reduce non-tariff barriers to align with WTO obligations, operationalising the adjustment mandate signalled in the Export Policy 2024-2027. NTB reduction is structurally necessary to offset the tariff increase under post-graduation preference erosion.
4. Used motor vehicle import liberalisation: The IPO proposes allowing import of used motor vehicles older than five years, subject to age-based duty differentials — reversing the near-total prohibition under prior IPOs and responding to domestic fleet-renewal demand post-COVID.
5. Risk-based import clearance and post-clearance audit (PCA): Introduces formalised risk-management protocols for import-cargo clearance with post-clearance audit mechanisms, aligning Bangladesh with WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) Article 7 obligations.
Bangladesh's IPO 2025-2028 is the first import policy framework explicitly designed for the post-LDC-graduation transition. The LDC graduation (November 2026) will end:
The NTB-reduction and e-customs provisions of IPO 2025-2028 are operationally required to demonstrate WTO-alignment compliance to trading partners seeking to extend enhanced preferences under post-LDC transition mechanisms (EU GSP+ application, UK DCTS Developing Country Status).
IPO 2025-2028 completes the foundational trade-policy architecture of the IPTM Bangladesh cluster:
The IPO is the issuing instrument for all subsequent Ministry of Commerce import-licensing notifications and HS-code-level tariff classification decisions through 2028.