Importing from China to Bangladesh: check the date on whatever you are reading
No commercial import into Bangladesh is possible without an Import Registration Certificate, renewed annually. Listed products also need a standards certificate. The trap is the dating: the Ministry of Commerce lists an Import Policy Order 2026-2029 issued on 25 August 2026, while the official trade portal still cites the order that expired on 30 June 2018.
Bangladesh's current Import Policy Order is dated August 2026, but the official trade portal's own procedure pages still cite one that expired in 2018.
The official guidance and the current law are eight years apart
Start here, because it changes how you read everything else, including this page. The Ministry of Commerce's own policies listing shows an Import Policy Order 2026-2029, dated 25 August 2026, and separately an Importers, Exporters and Indentors (Registration) Order 2023, dated 4 January 2024.
Meanwhile the Bangladesh Trade Portal, the official site the Ministry of Commerce established to make trading rules predictable and transparent, carries procedure pages for the Import Registration Certificate and for the standards certificate whose stated legal basis is the Import Policy Order 2015-2018, with validity given as extending to 30 June 2018.
Both are government sources and they are eight years apart. That is not a reason to distrust either; it is a reason to check the date on anything you read about importing into Bangladesh, and to treat the Ministry's policies listing as the place where the current order lives. Anything written before September 2026, including every summary currently circulating, predates the order now in force. We are not describing what the 2026-2029 order changed, because we have not read it; we are telling you it exists and where it is listed.
| Source | Instrument it points to | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Commerce, policies listing | Import Policy Order 2026-2029 | Issued 25 August 2026 |
| Ministry of Commerce, policies listing | Importers, Exporters and Indentors (Registration) Order 2023 | Listed 4 January 2024 |
| Bangladesh Trade Portal, procedure pages | Import Policy Order 2015-2018 | Validity stated as to 30 June 2018 |
The certificate that has to exist before anything else
The structural fact is stable across orders, and it is the one to plan around. An Import Registration Certificate is required to import commercially, it is issued by the Office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports under the Ministry of Commerce, and it is renewed annually. Registration of importers, exporters and indentors has its own order, made in 2023, which is where the current registration rules sit.
The portal lists what an application takes: an attested passport photograph, an attested valid trade licence, a chamber of commerce membership certificate, a bank certificate of financial solvency, an attested citizenship certificate, an attested taxpayer identification certificate, an original treasury challan for the fee, and the partnership deed or incorporation documents as applicable. The form itself is free; the registration fee and the cost of the pass-book are deposited by treasury challan at Bangladesh Bank or Sonali Bank.
Read that list as a description of who can import rather than as paperwork. It assumes a Bangladeshi business with a trade licence, a chamber membership, a tax identification and a bank that will vouch for its solvency. A foreign seller does not become an importer of record here by wanting to; the buyer either holds this certificate already or is some weeks from doing so. So the first question on a Bangladeshi enquiry is whether they hold a current Import Registration Certificate, in the same way it is the register question in Mexico.
Standards certification, and why the fee is worth knowing
Listed products also need a certificate from the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution. The portal's own page for imported products lists food and food-related items: milk powder, cream powder, fruit cordial, biscuits, sauces, lozenges, tomato ketchup, jams, marmalade, infant formula and soft drink powder.
It states the documents an importer submits, which is a useful list because most of them come from the China end: the packing list, the import registration certificate, the letter of credit, the bill of lading, the invoice, a valid trade licence, the taxpayer identification certificate, country of origin documentation, and health or radiation certificates for food items. It gives test fees as varying by product and the marking fee as 0.1 per cent of the cost, insurance and freight value of the import.
Treat all of those figures as resting on a page whose stated legal basis expired in 2018. We report them because a government source states them and because a proportional marking fee is the kind of thing that belongs in a landed cost rather than arriving as a surprise, but confirm them against the current order before you price an order around them. The country of origin documentation and the health or radiation certificates are prepared in China, which makes them our end of the job.
What this page does not tell you
It does not tell you what the Import Policy Order 2026-2029 says. We established that it exists and when it was issued, from the Ministry's own listing, and we did not read the order itself. Anyone who tells you confidently what changed should be asked which document they read and when.
It also quotes no Bangladeshi duty rate, because no Bangladeshi tariff source was opened and checked, and it does not describe any pre-shipment inspection regime, because none was verified from a Bangladeshi government source. A pre-shipment requirement is the single thing in this series we will not report second-hand, for the reason set out in the Indonesia guide: a buyer who acts on a second-hand pre-shipment rule discovers the error when the goods are already afloat.
Get all three from your Bangladeshi importer, their bank and a customs agent in Bangladesh, and ask them to name the document they are relying on.
What we can do for a Bangladeshi buyer, and what we cannot
The China-end work is the goods and the documents that accompany them: finding and vetting the factory, preparing the country of origin documentation, arranging health or radiation certificates where the goods are food, issuing an invoice and packing list that agree with the letter of credit your bank opens, inspecting before payment, and loading. The letter of credit discipline matters here more than in most markets, because the bank pays against documents that match rather than goods that are right, which our payment guide sets out.
On commercial terms, we can quote a price to your own destination port, so Chattogram or Mongla, and ex-works or a price to a Chinese port is there instead if your own freight forwarder is handling the sea leg. Door-to-door with duty and taxes included depends on the destination; ask, and we will tell you plainly which one applies.
What we do not do is obtain an Import Registration Certificate, deal with the standards institution, advise on Bangladeshi import law or act as your customs agent. Those are yours, in Bangladesh. Tell us the product and say the goods are going to Bangladesh in the first message, and say whether your registration certificate is current, because that is the item with a lead time nobody can compress. The wider picture is in the guide to buying from China from anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
What is the current Import Policy Order in Bangladesh?
The Ministry of Commerce's policies listing shows an Import Policy Order 2026-2029 issued on 25 August 2026. Note that the official Bangladesh Trade Portal's procedure pages still give their legal basis as the Import Policy Order 2015-2018, with validity to 30 June 2018, so check the date on anything you read.
Can I import into Bangladesh without an Import Registration Certificate?
Not commercially. The certificate is issued by the Office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports under the Ministry of Commerce and is renewed annually, and registration of importers, exporters and indentors has its own order made in 2023. Ask a Bangladeshi buyer whether theirs is current before planning around a delivery date.
Which products need a standards certificate?
The trade portal's page for imported products lists food and food-related items: milk powder, cream powder, fruit cordial, biscuits, sauces, lozenges, tomato ketchup, jams, marmalade, infant formula and soft drink powder. That page's stated legal basis has expired, so confirm the current list against the order now in force.
What does the standards marking fee cost?
The trade portal states test fees vary by product and the marking fee is 0.1 per cent of the cost, insurance and freight value of the import. A proportional fee belongs in the landed cost rather than arriving as a surprise, but confirm it against the current Import Policy Order, because the page stating it rests on one that expired in 2018.