NBR moves to speed up auction of abandoned goods

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has issued a special order to speed up the auction process for abandoned imported goods at all sea and land ports across the country.

The order, issued on Wednesday, allows not only the sale of goods through e-auction and spot auction, but also permits direct sale or transfer of items outside the auction process under specific conditions.

Additionally, the order provides a provision for hazardous materials to be either sold at an offered price or transferred free of cost to authorised institutions.

There is no requirement to set a reserve price for the lots, but legal verification is mandatory.

Currently, customs procedures discourage the sale of non-perishable goods below their reserve value, which is 60 percent of the import price plus tax, in the first auction.

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Setting the reserve value at 60 percent has created significant complications in completing auctions, often resulting in repeated auction attempts without successful sales.

As a consequence, several lakh tonnes of auctionable goods remain stockpiled at 25 sea and land ports across the country, including Chattogram port.

According to Chattogram port and NBR sources, around two lakh tonnes of imported goods, stored in 9,644 containers, were left abandoned at the port over 11 years, between 2013 and 2024.

The amount of abandoned goods will be at least double that figure if the data from the other 24 sea and land ports are considered, the sources said.

Importers tend to abandon consignments due to a fall in local market prices of the goods, failure to submit original documents supporting the shipment and clearance permit reports, or refusal to pay fines for anomalies, according to customs officials and importers.

NBR officials said the order streamlines the disposal process for auctionable goods with specific provisions for both e-auction and non-auction-based methods.

The order also mentions that the authorities must ensure proper documentation and verification of any pending legal disputes before proceeding with the sale.

The process mandates that chemical testing or policy compliance conditions must be clearly mentioned against relevant lots in the auction catalogue.

The order also allows certain goods to be disposed of without auction, particularly in the case of urgent or perishable items, including sugar, lentils, and soybean oil, which can be sold to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) at their offered rates.

If items remain unsold after two auctions or fail to attract any bids, they can be offered publicly via notice and sold to interested institutions at the highest offered price.

Additionally, expired but potentially usable hazardous chemicals may be sold to certified users, provided testing authorities confirm their usability, according to the order.

"The order helps to speed up the auction process and save huge amounts of goods from damage," Md Sakib Hossain, assistant commissioner of Chattogram Custom House, told The Daily Star.

He said: "The undelivered goods are not only occupying huge space at the port, but the customs authorities have also been deprived of revenue, while the respective shipping agents are incurring losses as they fail to get rents for those containers from the importers."