The Fire Licence and the Fire Safety NOC: Who Needs Them, the Documents, the Floor-Area Fee, the 30 June Renewal and the Penalties

In this guide: Who needs a licence (s.4) and who needs a no-objection (s.7) · Documents and the inspection · The fee: by floor area in square feet · Renewal by 30 June and the surcharge · Penalties and the wider cost · A working sequence

The short answer

Ask two questions. Is any part of the premises used to store goods or to make or repair anything? If yes, s.4 applies and you need the fire licence: apply on the prescribed form through the Fire Service e-licence portal or the divisional office with the trade licence, NID or incorporation papers and TIN, the layout and site plan, the land deed or rent deed, the city corporation’s valuation or holding certificate, a Tk 300 stamp affidavit, the local no-objection and, in the first year, a fire safety plan; the station inspects; a demand note fixes the fee by floor area; you pay the challan and collect the licence. Is the building multi-storey or commercial? Then s.7 applies at design stage: the Director General’s no-objection before the plan is approved by RAJUK or the development authority, and later the occupancy certificate under r.22, applied for thirty days before the building is used. The licence runs to 30 June and is renewed in June on the renewal form with last year’s licence, the challan and the current fire-fighting equipment certificates; DIFE and the Department of Environment ask for it at their own renewals, so an expired fire licence stalls three files at once. Our licences checklist places it in the sequence; the rest of this guide takes the Act and the Rules section by section.

Who needs a licence (s.4) and who needs a no-objection (s.7)

The Act uses two words, গুদাম (warehouse) and কারখানা (workshop or factory), and the Fire Service reads both widely: a godown behind a shop, a factory floor, a garment store, a cold store, a printing press, a restaurant kitchen with gas and stock, a chemical or paint store, a pharmaceutical warehouse. An office with no stock and no process is outside s.4, though it sits inside a building that may need the s.7 no-objection. Section 7 bites at design: before the development authority approves the design of a multi-storey (বহুতল) or commercial building the Director General’s no-objection must be obtained, and the Fire Service issues it after reviewing the fire safety provisions in the drawings (exits and stairs, fire separation, hydrants and reservoir, detection and alarm, lifts and refuge). The threshold is commonly stated as above six storeys, with the Building Code 2020 defining a high-rise as more than ten; in practice the Fire Service reviews any commercial building of seven floors or more and most hospitals, hotels, schools and shopping centres regardless of height. The 2024 headquarters charter lists the high-rise clearance (ছাড়পত্র) as a free service delivered within thirty working days by the Assistant Director (Warehouse and Fire Prevention). After construction the occupant applies for the occupancy certificate under r.22 thirty days before use, and then, if the building has warehouse or workshop use, for the licence.

Documents and the inspection

The station officer’s inspection report under r.6 precedes issue. Inspectors look at access for a fire appliance, the water reservoir and pump, extinguishers and hose reels by area, hydrants in larger premises, two separate marked exit stairs with doors opening outward and no storage on them, detectors and alarm, emergency lighting, electrical panels, housekeeping around stock, and the trained fire-fighting team and drill record that the Labour Rules also require of factories. Deficiencies come back as conditions with a date; the licence issues once the demand note is paid. The Comilla divisional charter gives ninety days; practitioners quote ninety to a hundred and twenty working days in Dhaka for a first licence, far less for renewal.

The fee: by floor area in square feet

Rule 14 fixes the licence fee by the floor area of the premises in square feet, in ten bands: up to 150; 151–300; 301–550; 551–1,000; 1,001–2,000; 2,001–5,000; 5,001–10,000; 10,001–15,000; 15,001–20,000; and above 20,000, with the amount depending also on the class of occupancy. The amounts legible in the gazette run from Tk 300 at the bottom to Tk 55,000 at the top; r.15 lets the fee be re-fixed each financial year; a rebate is capped at 20%; and 15% VAT is added. For a small warehouse or workshop the divisional charters quote a maximum of Tk 1,500 plus VAT at headquarters and Tk 500 at sub-offices; the Economic Zones Authority has negotiated a Tk 8,000 ceiling for units in its zones. A duplicate costs Tk 100 (r.9). Rule 19 fixes the building-plan approval fee for the s.7 review at Tk 0.20 or Tk 0.30 per square metre by class. We set these figures out as the gazette shows them and as the charters report; the 2014 schedule is under revision by a Home Ministry committee that met in September 2025, with the garment manufacturers asking for a cap of Tk 15,000 to 20,000, so the demand note is the figure to pay.

Renewal by 30 June and the surcharge

Rule 7 makes the licence annual and ties renewal to the financial year: the renewal application goes in within the thirty days before the year ends, that is in June, whatever the month of first issue, with the previous licence, the renewal challan, the equipment functionality certificates and the updated trade licence. Late renewal carries a surcharge of 5% of the licence fee for each month of delay for up to six months; after six months the licence is cancelled and the premises are treated as unlicensed, which means a fresh application, a fresh inspection and the first-year documents again. Two further rules matter in practice. Section 6: the licence is not transferable; a change of ownership or a change in the nature of the building or its use requires a fresh licence, so the buyer of a factory or the new tenant of a godown does not inherit the old one. And the licence is premises-specific: adding a floor, a shed or a second godown is an amendment with inspection, not a note on the file. Our clients keep the fire renewal in the same May review as the DIFE and trade licence renewals; the three offices ask for each other’s certificates.

Penalties and the wider cost

Section 17 punishes using a building or place as a warehouse or workshop without a licence, or in breach of its conditions, with imprisonment and fine; the Daily Star’s law pages report a minimum term of three years, and the Act’s text was not available to us at the date above, so we state the section rather than the figure. Section 19 punishes obstructing an officer with one to seven years. Section 24 makes offences cognizable only on the complaint of the Director General or an authorised officer, which in practice means the mobile court and the prosecution follow an inspection report. The practical cost is wider than the fine. After the Rana Plaza and Tazreen cases the garment buyers’ platforms made the fire licence, the s.7 approval and the fire safety certificate a condition of orders, and the Accord and RSC inspections treat a missing fire licence as a critical finding. DIFE requires the fire licence at the factory licence renewal, the Department of Environment at the ECC renewal, and insurers decline or reduce a fire claim on unlicensed premises. The Fire Service itself can order the premises closed until the deficiencies are corrected.

A working sequence

At design: the s.7 no-objection before the plan is submitted for approval, with the fire consultant’s drawings. At fit-out: the equipment installed to the approved plan, supplier certificates and test reports kept. Before occupation: the r.22 occupancy certificate, applied for thirty days ahead. Before stock or machinery arrives: the s.4 licence application with the documents above; the inspection; the demand note; the challan; the licence. Every June: the renewal with the functionality certificates and the drill record. On any change of owner, tenant, use or footprint: a fresh application. The fire licence is cheap next to the other licences and slow next to all of them; the applications that take four months are the ones where the inspection finds a blocked stair or a dry reservoir and the clock stops while they are fixed. We prepare the file, walk the premises before the inspector does and handle the conditions and the renewal calendar.