BANGLADESH LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Shahwar Nizam, Tarannum Tasnim, Mahboob Aziz, Saif Bhuiyan, Farhan Kabir, Tanzim Ahmed and Rizvi Khan, DFDL Bangladesh
6.4 Antitrust/Competition Enforcement Pursuant to the Competition Act, the BCC has a quasi-judicial function. Either on its own motion or following any complaint received from any person or corporation, the BCC may inquire and decide in the relevant matter. Apart from delivering a final decision, it may also impose interim orders for retainment for up to 60 days against the person or body in ques - tion. A right of appeal against the decision of the BCC is available. The aggrieved party may file an appeal before the Court of Sessions Judge of the relevant district. Further, there is no express provision in the law for obtaining prior permission in this regard. 7. Foreign Investment/National Security 7.1 Applicable Regulator and Process Overview As referred to in 1.2 Regulatory Framework for FDI , Bangladesh has a liberal FDI regime in place. Com - panies can be incorporated as subsidiaries of foreign companies and be 100% foreign owned, as there are generally no restrictions on foreign ownership, save for certain specific prohibited and regulated sectors. For - eign or private investment is prohibited for certain sec - tors reserved only for the government, including man - ufacturing of arms and ammunition or other defence equipment, forest plantation and mechanised extrac - tion of reserved forests, production of nuclear energy, printing of currency notes and minting. Additionally, foreign ownership is regulated in certain other sectors through an administrative licensing process, such as logistics, banking, insurance, merchant banking and brokerage, aviation and broadcasting. For example, foreigners are not allowed to own more than 40% in freight forwarding businesses. Separately, there is a single shareholding limit (irrespective of whether for - eign invested or locally invested) in some of the sec - tors mentioned in the foregoing. There are also some state monopoly businesses, such as transmission of electricity and railways, etc, where only state-owned enterprises operate and exercise a monopoly. Additionally, Bangladesh has a strict foreign exchange regime, which controls and monitors the outflow and inflow of foreign funds. As the central bank, Bangla -
desh Bank is the primary regulator in charge of con - trolling and monitoring foreign investment in Bangla - desh. Bangladesh Bank regulates and enforces the foreign exchange regime in Bangladesh. The principal legislation in this regard is the Foreign Exchange Reg - ulation Act 1947 (FERA) and the Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions 2018 (GFET) promulgated and enforced by Bangladesh Bank. Under the foreign exchange regime, specific or general Bangladesh Bank approval is required to remit monies outside Bangladesh. Also, there are post facto reporting obli - gations for foreign investment/share allotment, share transfer and dividend repatriation, among others. For transfer of shares from non-resident to resident, which involves remittance of monies outside Bangladesh, prior Bangladesh Bank approval will be required. However, generally, no prior regulatory approvals are required for foreign investments into Bangladesh. 7.2 Criteria for National Security Review The criteria for investment usually do not differ depending on the nature of the investment or of the investors. As mentioned in 7.1 Applicable Regulator and Process Overview , Bangladesh has a liberal FDI regime, where 100% foreign investment and own - ership is allowed in most sectors, save for certain regulated or prohibited sectors. The criteria do not change depending on the nature of the investor, such as private investors or foreign government-owned or affiliated investors. Investors in general are required to comply with the foreign exchange regulations, the Companies Act and BIDA rules and guidelines. 7.3 Remedies and Commitments As Bangladesh is a developing nation, the foreign exchange restrictions are more relaxed in terms of foreign investment coming into Bangladesh. The requirement is that foreign investment is made through appropriate banking channels and is properly report - ed to Bangladesh Bank through authorised dealers/ local banks. Also, when profits are repatriated out - side Bangladesh, investors must repatriate such profit after tax from retained earnings and comply with the post-transfer notification requirements to Bangladesh Bank. Save for the foregoing, there are no additional requirements or remedies required from foreign inves - tors for investing into Bangladesh.
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