• President FPCCI has raised the collective concerns of the business, industry and trade community of Pakistan with member customs
• Former President FPCCI Mian Anjum Nisar highlighted that customs should act as the facilitator of exports
• Member Customs Mukarram Jah Ansari agreed to many demands of FPCCI; and, announced several remedial measures on the spot

KARACHI:  President, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) Irfan Iqbal Sheikh has raised the collective concerns of the business, industry and trade community of Pakistan with member customs in a large gathering at the Federation House.

He outlined the top most issues vis-à-vis customs as: (i) he identified delayed and obsolete customs valuations as the biggest issue at the moment as it has been delayed for over 2 years now; whereas, it used to be done every 3 months or so in the past (ii) the introduction of authorized economic operator (AEO) is being carried out in an inefficiently slow-paced manner; which is making it ineffective (iii) Pakistan Single Window (PSW), though a good initiative; but, facing delays in its full-scale awareness &implementation (iv) trucks & consignments are unnecessarily stopped again by anti-smuggling during inter-city transit; despite being already customs-paid.

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

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

Ex-VP FPCCI Saqib Fayyaz Maggo said that the customs need to create awareness of its various initiatives; make the initiatives like WeBOC & PSW businessman-friendly and expedite the digitalization processes.

Member Customs Mukarram Jah Ansari agreed to many demands of FPCCI; and, announced several remedial measures on the spot: (i) abolishment of upfront payment of duties & taxes is in process (ii) implementation of modules for export facilitation scheme in WeBOC within 15 days (iii) conducting examination   of provisional license holders (iv) acceptance of defense saving certificates as security (v) any unnecessary anti-smuggling checking will be stopped immediately (vi) abolishment of the condition for pasting shipping documents inside shipment containers is under consideration and customs are aware of apprehensions of the stakeholders.

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Additionally, he maintained that, 450 customs valuations are pending and it is not possible to carry out all the valuations in three months; but, they will be completed at the earliest.