Up to three mobile phones—two new phones and their used phone—may be brought duty-free back to Bangladesh by Bangladeshi expatriates.

On Wednesday, the Posts and Telecommunications Division (PTD) issued a press release in this regard.

The release said when bringing a fourth phone, foreigners are required to have Bureau of Manpower Export and Training registration cards and pay tax. 

As of right now, they can only bring two cell phones.

This decision was made after the PTD, the National Board of Revenue, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission met with the chief adviser's special assistant, Faiz Taiyeb Ahmed, at the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology on December 1.

The press release said that while on vacation in Bangladesh, Bangladeshi expatriates could use their smartphones without registering them for up to 60 days. After that, they would have to register their phones.

In addition to their used phone, those without a BMET card are only permitted to bring one extra phone for free. In this instance, they have to carry the receipt for the mobile phone purchase.

In Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and at airports in Middle Eastern countries, smugglers are smuggling gold and high-end mobile phones duty-free by forcing ordinary expatriates to do so, according to the press release.

Expatriates are advised to carry the paperwork for the cell phones they have purchased in order to deter such behavior.

The price of legally imported cell phones will drop as a result of the substantial reduction in the legal import duty on smartphones.

Other decisions about lowering the import tax on mobile phones were also made at the meeting.

By providing the BTRC with the IMEI list of these phones, steps are being taken to verify the stock of phones that were illegally imported into the market for reduced duty before December 16th.

However, refurbished or cloned phones are not covered by this scope.

There will be no impact on mobile phones used prior to December 16.

The government has begun efforts to drastically lower the current duty of roughly 61% on mobile phone imports through legal channels.

"Mobile phones manufactured in 13–14 factories in Bangladesh will require lower duty and VAT if import duties are reduced; otherwise, the companies' foreign investment will be negatively impacted," the press release stated.

In order to lower and modify import and domestic production duties, the BTRC and the NBR have met with the Ministry of Commerce multiple times and have started working swiftly toward this goal.

Additionally, it is important to make sure that no one is using a SIM card that is registered in their name without their knowledge. Always use a SIM card that is registered in your name to prevent criminal activity and registration problems.

According to the release, phones that are illegally imported, smuggled, or cloned will be prohibited in Bangladesh, and people should avoid buying devices without valid IMEI numbers as the National Equipment Identity Register, or NEIR, will be implemented on December 16.

The country will stop dumping old phones from abroad. The rampant smuggling business that has been enabled by changing the casing and bringing electronic waste into the country will be stopped, it added.

Flights from India, Thailand, and China are being identified at airports and land ports, and customs raids will be conducted soon.

The proposed Telecommunications (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, has strengthened data security for eKYC and IMEI registration of mobile SIMs. A new section has been added to the ordinance to make the violation of registration data an offense.