Bangladeshi government to set new postal rules

The Bangladeshi government is set to frame rules to bring courier service and mailing operators under a specific guideline in a bid to speed up the service and electronic money transfer, reports The Financial Express (Bangladesh). The article continues:

A review committee has recently finalised the draft of ‘mailing operators and courier service rules-2010’. The draft will be placed to the ministry of post and telecommunication for its nod.

The ministry is forming a licensing authority for the courier service and mailing operators. The review committee has held a series of meetings in the last two months to finalise the rules.

Senior officials of the Rules for courier ministries of post and telecommunication and commerce and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) discussed finalisation of methods of investigation of allegations against the service providers, punitive measures and definitions of their service etc.

“A number of private courier service operators have been providing services for years without any specific guidelines. The government has taken the move to authorise their services,” said a senior government official.

The rules will also help to improve the service quality of state-owned post offices, he said.

The government has already amended the Post Office Act-1898 and introduced the Post Office (Amendment) Act-2010, he said.

The act will ensure accountability and improve service quality of private courier services, the official said.

“The postal department will be able to start electronic money transfer and take different income generating initiatives under specific rules,” he said.