Customs mulling to abolish upfront payment of duties, taxes

KARACHI: Abolishment of upfront payment of duties and taxes was in process and modules for export facilitation scheme in WeBOC would be implemented within 15 days, Member Customs Mukarram Jah Ansari announced on Saturday.

He was speaking to the business community at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). He encouraged the business community to come forward and make the authorised economic operators (AEO) programme a success; “as it will reduce the cost of doing business and improve ease of doing business”.

He also announced that examination of provisional license holders and acceptance of defense saving certificates as security and any unnecessary anti-smuggling checking would be stopped immediately.

Moreover, he added that the abolishment of the condition for pasting shipping documents inside shipment containers was also under consideration and customs was aware of apprehensions of the stakeholders.

Ansari said that 450 customs valuations were pending and it was not possible to carry out all the valuations in three months. However, those would be completed at the earliest, while some obsolete valuations would be deleted as well.

Earlier, FPCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh raised the collective concerns of the business, industry and trade community of Pakistan with member customs.

He identified delayed and obsolete customs valuations as the biggest issue at the moment, which was being delayed for over two years now. In the past, it used to be done every three months or so.

He also said that the introduction of authorised economic operator (AEO) moved at an inefficient and slow pace, which made it ineffective. Pointing out that Pakistan Single Window (PSW) was a good initiative, he said that delays existed in its full-scale awareness and implementation.

Sheikh also said that custom-paid trucks and consignments were unnecessarily stopped by anti-smuggling officials during inter-city transit, which should be stopped.

Former President of FPCCI, Mian Anjum Nisar highlighted that customs should act as the facilitator of exports, and any issues, anomalies and complaints should be resolved swiftly. He urged to form a high-powered liaison committee with customs from the platform of FPCCI.

FPCCI Vice President Shabbir Mansha demanded the abolishment of the requirement of pasting shipping documents inside shipment containers, as it was not an international best practice. “It is creating a lot of delays and losses as well,” he added.