Bangladesh parliament has passed a new law for regulating the hotels and restaurants. It was published on November 27, 2014. Previous law was the ‘Bangladesh Hotels and Restaurants Ordinance, 1982’. The old law become invalid because of the judgement in Civil Appeal no. 48/2011 by the Appellate Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court.
In the new act, restaurant is defined as a business establishment where 30 or more people can be served food. Hotel is defined as a business establishment with at least 10 rooms for guest with other facilities.
Under the new law, without registration and license, the business of restaurant and hotel is illegal. A hotel within 2 years of obtaining registration and a restaurant within 1 years of obtaining registration must start business. A license will be valid for three years and after that renewal will be required after that.
The District Commissioner (DC) or any other person authorized by government through official notification will act as the Controller.
For license, an owner must fulfill some conditions. A hotel with status of three star or more should obtain prior no objection certificate from the government before starting the hotel construction. For change of owner, the Controller must be notified.
The act impose certain condition under which a guest can be ejected.
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