Govt urged to lift import ban on gift scheme cars

TOKYO: Stakeholders have urged the government to exclude vehicles sent home by expats through gift and transfer of residence schemes from the import ban, arguing not a single dollar leaves the country as a result of these imports.

“Pakistan earns revenues worth millions of dollars as customs duties on the import of the vehicles under the special schemes,” officials of Pak-Japan Business Council in Tokyo, Japan, told The News.

“Last year, overseas Pakistanis remitted $450 million as duty on these imported vehicles.”

They argued that thsse cars were mostly hybrid or electric vehicles, which could help cut the fossil fuel consumption and carbon emission, but the federal government added these vehicles to banned imported items’ list.

Expressing dismay over the decision, Car Exporter Association for Pakistan said All the duties and fees were remitted by overseas Pakistanis, sending

these cars to Pakistan, through proper banking channels.

The government banned the import of luxury goods and assembled vehicles the federal government fed through SRO 598 (1) 2022 also banned the import of vehicles sent by overseas Pakistanis through a gift scheme and transfer of residence options.

They said if the decision was not reversed the country might face an annual foreign exchange loss of $450 million.

The stakeholders urged the government to immediately lift the ban so that the country could earn foreign exchange and Pakistanis living abroad benefit from this facility.

Last month, the government slapped a temporary ban on the imports of 38 essential and luxury items. Ministry of Commerce through SRO598 of 2022 amended the Import Policy Order.

The SRO has specified 800 Pakistan Customs Tariff Headings (PCT) headings of banned items in 33 categories.

According to the list, ban has been imposed on the import of mobile phones CBU, home appliances, cosmetics, crockery, pet food, private weapons and ammunition, shoes, chandeliers and lighting (except energy savers), headphones and loudspeakers, doors and window frames, travelling bags and suitcases, sanitary ware, carpets (except from Afghanistan), tissue paper, furniture, shampoos, automobiles (CBU), luxury mattresses and sleeping bags, bathroom ware/toiletries, heaters/blowers, sunglasses, kitchenware, cigarettes, shaving goods, luxury leather apparel, musical instruments, saloon items like hairdryers and decoration/ornamental articles.