Bangladesh Import Workflow in Five Steps: Indent Approval, LC, Customs, MRP and NOC

1. Key takeaways

The import workflow for a medical device in Bangladesh has five steps. First, Indent Approval, applied for on the basis of a proforma invoice and taking about 30 days. Second, opening a letter of credit (LC). Third, customs clearance, taking about 2 to 3 working days. Fourth, MRP approval, taking 30 to 40 days. Fifth, for each subsequent consignment, an NOC issued by the licence holder, after which the process repeats from step one. Holding a registration certificate establishes eligibility; the five steps are the actual import channel.

• The workflow is a loop, not a line: step five sends the consignment back to step one.
• Indent Approval is required for every consignment, not once per product.
• MRP approval sits after customs clearance, because it depends on documents that only exist once goods have cleared.
• Customs clearance is the fastest step at 2 to 3 working days, and it is surrounded by two much slower ones.
• The NOC is a commercial-side control issued by the licence holder, separate from the government-side Indent Approval.
• Waiting time between clearance and MRP approval carries warehousing cost that belongs in the landed cost calculation.

2. Legal basis

The sequence itself is set out in operational practice rather than in a single article, and the statutory hook is the Act’s coverage of import as a regulated activity. What matters for planning is the order of the steps and the documents each one consumes, because the documents determine which step can start and which must wait. The table below sets out each step with its timeline.

The document list in step four explains the order of the whole sequence. The entry document exists only after clearance, and the copy of the clearance likewise. That is why MRP approval cannot be started early, however well prepared the manufacturer is, and why the 30 to 40 days has to be treated as time added to the shipment rather than time run in parallel with it. A plan that assumes MRP work can begin while the goods are still on the water will be wrong by the length of the clearance plus the approval.

3. Expert insights

Insight one: the five steps form a cycle, not a linear process. Step five states explicitly that the process repeats from step one, which means Indent Approval is taken out again for every consignment. This is fundamentally different from markets where a registration certificate supports continuous import, and it is what gives the NOC mechanism its weight: the holder signs again in every turn of the cycle. A manufacturer that has planned its supply chain on the assumption of a single approval will underestimate the administrative load of running a monthly import programme by an order of magnitude.

Insight two: MRP approval comes after clearance, which makes it the most delicately placed step. It requires the entry document, which exists only after the goods have cleared. The resulting sequence is: goods arrive, clearance, then a 30 to 40 day wait, then labelling is completed, and only then may the product be sold. The warehousing cost during that waiting period has to be counted in the landed cost of the goods. It is also a period in which the product is physically present in the market but legally unsaleable, which is the point at which commercial pressure to release stock early tends to appear.

Insight three: clearance itself is quick, and the slow steps are the ones on either side of it. Indent Approval at 30 days and MRP approval at 30 to 40 days bracket a clearance that takes 2 to 3 working days. The way to shorten the import cycle is to compress the two ends, not to chase customs. That insight changes where effort is spent: template design for the proforma invoice, a standing relationship with the licence holder for NOC turnaround, and a pre-agreed labelling plan for the post-clearance period will each save more time than any intervention at the port.

Insight four: the cycle is only as fast as its slowest signature. Because every consignment passes through a government approval, a bank, a customs broker, an MRP approval and a commercial NOC, the total lead time is set by the least predictable of the five. In practice the NOC and the Indent Approval are the two that depend on other parties being responsive, and both are governed by documents rather than by physical goods. Putting a time limit on the NOC in the holder agreement is therefore a direct intervention on total lead time, not a contractual nicety.

4. Practical recommendations

GRZAN works to a consignment calendar: the Indent Approval application date is counted back from the expected arrival date, allowing more than 30 days, and the MRP approval period of 30 to 40 days is reserved after clearance. For clients importing frequently, we recommend turning the proforma invoice and the Indent Approval preparation into templates, so that step one becomes a matter of filling in fields rather than rebuilding a file each time. We also require the licence holder to accept a written NOC turnaround in the agreement, so that the NOC does not become the new bottleneck in the cycle.

• Work backwards from the arrival date and add a margin over the 30 day Indent Approval period rather than planning to the exact figure.
• Keep the proforma invoice content consistent with the previous consignment, so that the approval comparison is straightforward.
• Reserve the full 30 to 40 days for MRP approval after clearance, and do not schedule sales from the clearance date.
• Assemble the MRP application set in advance: registration certificate copy, approved proforma invoice, clearance copy, commercial invoice and entry document.
• Fix the licence holder’s NOC turnaround in the agreement, and request the NOC in parallel with the Indent Approval rather than after it.
• Include the warehousing and waiting cost of each consignment in the landed cost, so that pricing reflects the cycle rather than only the goods.

5. Verification checklist

• □ Indent Approval is applied for more than 30 days before the expected arrival date
• □ The proforma invoice is prepared and consistent with the previous consignment
• □ 30 to 40 days have been reserved for MRP approval
• □ The MRP application set is complete: registration certificate copy, approved proforma invoice, clearance copy, commercial invoice and entry document
• □ The agreement sets a time limit for the licence holder to issue the NOC
• □ Warehousing and waiting costs for each consignment are included in the landed cost

Regulatory information verified as of 27 October 2026.

How GRZAN can help. GRZAN provides medical device and IVD registration, quality system, authorised representative and local testing support across South Asia, including Bangladesh. Our team prepares dossiers to DGDA expectations, manages submissions and deficiency responses, and supports post-market vigilance obligations. Business enquiries: info@grzanglobal.com