The Towel Manufacturers Association (TMA) has urged the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) to provide guidance to the apparel and clothing exporters about the status of duty and taxes to be charged on their goods' entry into the European Union (EU) member states from January next year.
TMA founder Chairman S. M. A. Rizvi said in a statement on Saturday that the exporters had no official information whether the textile goods, which had been exported in 2004 on proper visa, would be, on arrival at EU ports after December 31, subjected to tariff charges.
The exporters were also unaware about the items in which Pakistan had graduated and were liable to pay duty, and the items, which remained duty-free, he said, adding they were also unaware that the arrangement during 2005 would be interim till December 31, 2005.
He said it was on the cards that a fresh generalised system of preferences (GSP) scheme would be enforced by the EU for 10 years, starting 2006.
He pointed out that the US had already intimated that they would allow clearance of all the shipments with valid visas issued before December 31 and had given a timeframe of six months for the entry of these goods ie June 30, 2005.
Rizvi said that it was the responsibility of the EPB to keep the exporters fully aware of things to come so that they might plan their shipments accordingly.
Pakistani exporters, particularly of the EU, were worried because many buyers were not willing to bear the burden of duty and were asking the exporters to ship their goods which arrived before December 31, he said.
The TMA chief recalled how the First-Come First-Served (FCFS) quota was distributed by the EPB in a haphazard manner with the result that the pace of shipments would be very low even in some hot categories, although the entire quota had been booked.
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