Daily Advisor

Situation

On 24 August 2026, the Ministry of Commerce issued a gazette releasing the Import Policy Order 2026-2029, allowing industrial and commercial importers to bring in goods through direct sales or purchase contracts without any value ceiling or price limit [The Business Standard, 25 August 2026]. The order removes the previous $500,000 annual ceiling for commercial importers remitting payments from Bangladesh for non-LC imports via contract [Daily Sun / Online Desk, 25 August 2026]. It also raises the engine capacity limit for imported fully assembled motorcycles to 375cc from the previous 165cc restriction under the 2021-2024 order [The Business Standard, 25 August 2026], and creates provisions for Free Trade Zones and central bonded warehouses to develop Bangladesh as a regional trade, logistics, and re-export hub [Views Bangladesh, 25 August 2026]. The liberalization matters because it shifts the control function from a simple annual ceiling to transaction-level enforcement at customs and at banks.

Evidence

• The gazette issued on 24 August 2026 permits both industrial and commercial importers to bring in goods via direct sales or purchase contracts without any value ceiling or price limit [The Business Standard, 25 August 2026].
• The Import Policy Order 2026-2029 eliminates the previous $500,000 annual ceiling for commercial importers remitting payments from Bangladesh for non-LC imports via contract [Daily Sun / Online Desk, 25 August 2026].
• The order establishes provisions for Free Trade Zones and central bonded warehouses to develop Bangladesh as a regional trade, logistics, and re-export hub [Views Bangladesh, 25 August 2026].
• The engine capacity limit for imported fully assembled motorcycles is raised to 375cc, up from the previous 165cc restriction under the 2021-2024 order [The Business Standard, 25 August 2026].
• A 24 October 2024 Bangladesh Bank circular permits industrial establishments in Export Processing Zones and Economic Zones to import through letters of agreement/contracts with short-term foreign financing of up to 60 days [The Business Standard, 25 October 2024].

Prescription

1. The Ministry of Commerce, in coordination with NBR, should issue an operational circular defining the mandatory documentary set for direct sales and purchase contracts before consignments begin clearing. Mechanism: importers must register the contract, invoice, supplier name, quantity, and unit price in the customs assessment file; NBR should reject entries that lack a verifiable contract identifier. This converts the removal of the value ceiling into a usable data trail.
2. NBR should activate risk-based post-clearance audit for non-LC imports. Mechanism: target related-party transactions, repeated suppliers, and goods with wide tariff differentials. For flagged entries, require the importer to justify declared prices against third-party price data or supplier cost documentation. NBR should not reintroduce a price limit, but should deny assessment where the declared value is unsupported.
3. Bangladesh Bank should require banks to report and reconcile all non-LC contract remittances with the corresponding customs declarations. Mechanism: for each contract import, banks should capture the customs assessment number and contract reference before approving outward payment. Bangladesh Bank should flag mismatches between payment value and customs declaration value for post-payment inspection. This builds on the existing 24 October 2024 circular permitting industrial establishments in Export Processing Zones and Economic Zones to import through letters of agreement/contracts with short-term foreign financing of up to 60 days [The Business Standard, 25 October 2024].
4. The Ministry of Commerce, NBR, and Bangladesh Bank should jointly operationalize the Free Trade Zone and central bonded warehouse provisions through licensing, security, and re-export verification. Mechanism: bonded warehouse operators should post a customs bond, maintain shipment-level inventory records, and obtain re-export certification before duty exemption is finalized. FTZ cargo should be tracked from entry to exit to prevent duty-free leakage into the domestic market. This makes the regional hub provision [Views Bangladesh, 25 August 2026] operational rather than declaratory.
5. NBR and the Ministry of Commerce should enforce the motorcycle engine capacity change through certification and HS code audit. Mechanism: importers of fully assembled motorcycles must submit a manufacturer engine displacement certificate at entry. Customs should test declared HS codes against the 375cc ceiling [The Business Standard, 25 August 2026] and flag any motorcycle declared below 165cc for post-clearance inspection, because 165cc was the previous restriction under the 2021-2024 order [The Business Standard, 25 August 2026].

Risks and tradeoffs

Removing the $500,000 annual ceiling [Daily Sun / Online Desk, 25 August 2026] shifts anti-money-laundering and capital-flight risk onto transaction monitoring. If Bangladesh Bank and NBR do not reconcile bank payment data with customs declarations, importers can over-invoice or split transactions to move funds abroad. Post-clearance audit and price verification can slow clearance and raise compliance costs, especially for commercial importers that previously operated under the $500,000 annual ceiling [Daily Sun / Online Desk, 25 August 2026]. The Free Trade Zone and central bonded warehouse provisions can create duty leakage if inventory tracking and re-export certification are weak [Views Bangladesh, 25 August 2026]. The 375cc engine capacity change [The Business Standard, 25 August 2026] creates an incentive for importers to misdeclare engine size if certification checks are not enforced. The binding constraint is institutional data sharing: if reporting obligations are imposed before NBR and Bangladesh Bank exchange data effectively, imports will be delayed and the trade-opening intent of the order will be undermined.

Bottom line

The Import Policy Order 2026-2029 is a deregulatory opening, not a compliance system [The Business Standard, 25 August 2026]. The immediate task is to pair the elimination of the $500,000 annual ceiling [Daily Sun / Online Desk, 25 August 2026] with customs-payment reconciliation, bonded warehouse controls, and engine certification enforcement.