Smuggled or abandoned liquor and cigarettes from now can be sold off at a minimum of 60 per cent of their value to shops listed by customs instead of being kept on hold for sale by Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation. 

If such goods which have been seized are perishable, such as soybean oil, they can be handed over to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh to be sold directly to people instead of being kept awaiting an auction.

If multiple auctions fail to sell off such goods, they can be sold off at a minimum of 60 per cent of their value without the knowledge of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

All these were stated in a new policy formulated by the NBR and made public on Sunday to expedite auctioning of goods which have either been abandoned or seized for being smuggled into the country.

The policy expands on and amends an August 2021 statutory regulatory order issued by the NBR.

It makes it easier to make use of goods which are at risk of perishing for delays in the holding of auctions. It also enables disposal of goods which have perished, according to customs officials and users of the Chattogram port.

The government order simplifies and modernises procedures, including that for preservation of goods, issuing notices to owners, formation ofauction committees, and determination of prices.

According to Custom House Chattogram, there were goods worth about Tk 10,432 crore inside 8,000 containers and several sheds inside the Chattogram port, all abandoned by importers over the past six years.

Over this period, customs earned only Tk 464.71 crore auctioning off such goods.

Meanwhile, it disposed of a staggering Tk 220 crore-worth goods which had perished inside 979 containers as auctions were not held on time.

From September 12, Chattogram customs will start disposing of another 7,000 tonnes of goods which perished inside 382 containers.

Moreover, a Chattogram District Administration committee will start disposing of 63 containers of chemical goods which went bad for not being auctioned off on time.

Port users said if the auctions could have been arranged in due time, such wastage could have been averted while foreign currency could have been saved from the import of the same goods.

"The auction procedure of customs is very lengthy. The process should be made simpler," said Anamul Haque, proprietor of Amanat Trading, a bidder of the Chattogram port, told The Daily Star.

"We sent letters at different times to the NBR and customs to simplify the auction process and form taskforce committees involving all related departments to expedite the procedure," he said.

"We hope that the order will help expedite the auction process," he said.

"…the auction bidding process has been made simpler by the new order," Santosh Soren, deputy commissioner of Custom House Chattogram, told The Daily Star.

"The order clearly states what government parties concerned need to do and within how many days an auction needs to be completed. As a result…there is greater accountability," he said.

Auctions and disposals at times necessitate the involvement of a number of government bodies such as customs, ports, city corporations, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Explosives and Department of Environment.

From now, the auction committees can seek government bodies to provide representatives as necessary to carry out the process.