The National Board of Revenue has relaxed the duty-free motor vehicle import rules for investors in the country’s hi-tech parks, curtailing the minimum level of investment to be made and the number of employees to be hired for availing the facility. The investors in the country’s hi-tech parks under the Bangladesh HiTech Park Authority will now be able to enjoy duty-free vehicle import by investing $5 million and employing 150 people in their ventures, according to a statutory regulatory order of the NBR. Prior to the relaxation, they were required to invest $10 million and employ 500 people to avail the benefit. The investors now will also be able to import a minibus under the scheme, the recently issued SRO said. The NBR’s customs wing recently issued the SRO by amending the original SRO issued in 2015 to offer the duty-free motor vehicle import benefit. The revenue board offered the benefit to the investors to attract technology-based investment in the hi-tech parks. Under the scheme, an investor, upon fulfilment of a set of conditions, including ones related to the amount invested and the number of people employed, can import a 2000cc sedan car and a microbus or a pick-up van or a double cabin pick-up van without having to pay customs duty, regulatory duty, value-added tax and supplementary duty. Now, a minibus has been included in that list. The other conditions require approval from the BHTPA for import of the vehicle and restriction on sale or transfer of that car within five years of import. The investors are not allowed to use the vehicle commercially or any purpose not related to production and factory operation. Officials of the revenue board said that they relaxed the conditions following a request made the BHTPA. Investment in the hi-tech parks is mainly technology-based and the number of employment opportunities is usually lower compared to other industries. The BHTPA argued that the conditions should be relaxed to attract more investment in the hi-tech parks.
