FEPD Circular Letter No. 07: Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act, 2016

Foreign Exchange Policy Department Bangladesh Bank Head Office Dhaka. Ref. No. FEPD Circular Letter No. 07 Date: ---------------- May 30, 2017

To All Approved Dealer Banks engaged in Foreign Exchange Transactions Head Office / Principal Office of Approved Dealer Banks

Dear Sir,

Subject: Reference to the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act, 2016

With reference to the subject cited above, your attention is invited.

2. The Bureau of Non-Government Organizations has informed Bangladesh Bank that the law titled "Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act, 2016" has been in effect since November 06, 2016, after considering the rules of the Non-Government Organization (Registration and Supervision) Ordinance, 1978 and the Non-Government Organization (Non-Profit Organizations) Ordinance, 1982, which were repealed by the Government. Copies of two (2) Gazette Notifications published by the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh are enclosed herewith.

3. Instructions are hereby given to follow the relevant regulations regarding the maintenance of accounts for foreign donations as stipulated in Section 9 of the aforementioned Act, when any person or institution in Bangladesh receives foreign donations through scheduled banks.

4. In order to comply with the instructions of Section 9(3) of the said Act, the Head Office / Principal Office of approved dealer banks is instructed to submit an annual consolidated statement containing details of foreign donations released through all branches of their respective banks to the Manager, Foreign Exchange Operations Department, Bangladesh Bank, Head Office, via email (feop@bb.org.bd) and in hard copy between January 15 and July 15 of each year. It is noted that the document sent via email by the bank must be prepared in the Excel program.

5. Approved dealer banks will commence submitting this report from July 2017 onwards (for the period of January-June 2017) and will continue to do so.

6. It is hereby informed that there is no further need to submit statements under Annexure 43 in accordance with the instructions of Section 19(i)(n) of Appendix-2 of the Foreign Exchange Manual.

You are requested to ensure compliance after informing all concerned parties.

Yours faithfully,

Enclosure: As per list.

(Jagannath Chandra Ghosh) Deputy General Manager Phone-9530092