The existing digital commerce organizations have to apply for DBID by September 28. Registration is free for up to one year. Since then, the government has planned to charge the registration fee.
On Tuesday, 19 July 2022, in the opening ceremony of the workshop on ‘Digital Business Identity (DBID) Registration’, the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Md. Hafizur Rahman said this while attending the ceremony online. He also warned that the DBID will not be given if the digital commerce policy is not followed.
Hafizur Rahman also said that online business is being conducted through more than two and a half thousand websites and nearly 3 lakh Facebook pages in the country, most of whom are women-entrepreneurs. He said, this initiative aims to bring all businesses under one database. It is not possible for micro traders to get trade license, RJSC registration, ETIN or VAT registration. For that reason, it will be easy to gain the trust of buyers if DBID is there.
Managing Director of SME Foundation Md. Mofizur Rahman presented the key-note article in the workshop. He said, the DBID number will be unique and auto-generated. The aim of DBID registration is to ensure transparency, responsibility, accountability of digital commerce organizations, to prepare a type-wise list of digital commerce businesses and to recognize digital commerce organizations that comply with existing laws and regulations. Online application for DBID registration is required. For this the applicant has to submit the NID. In case of organization, NID, trade license and RJSC registration number of the chairman or directors should be submitted. Also, VAT registration and ETIN, if any, should also be submitted. In case of rental office, copy of house rent agreement and NID of house owner should be given. However, MLM or networking business through digital media, narcotics, explosives and gambling would not be allowed to apply for this registration
He also said that the application for DBID registration should be made within 90 days of the issuance of the guidelines i.e. 28 September 2022. It appears that existing e-commerce entrepreneurs cannot operate online business without DBID. The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies (RJSC) will issue the certificate after verifying whether there are multiple organizations with the same name or multiple names of the same organization, active website or social media page and whether there are purchase and sale or other conditions in Bengali. And if the information is not correct, the application will be rejected and the applicant will be notified.
95 entrepreneurs participated in this online workshop. Besides, about 150 more entrepreneurs participated in the Facebook page of the foundation.
It may be noted that, in the light of National Digital Commerce Policy 2018 and National Digital Commerce Management Guidelines 2021, the Ministry of Commerce has issued the ‘Digital Business Identity (DBID) Registration’ guidelines on 29 June 2022. Online application for DBID can be made in the office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies by logging on to this website.