Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has asked its counterpart in India to release the detained Pak cement consignments in Indian market.
PSQCA had taken up the issue with the International Relations & Technical Information Services Department, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) following publication of a report in Business Recorder on April 7 the Indian authorities had detained consignments of Pakistani cement on the plea of not obtaining 'quality certificate' from the Bureau of Indian Standards.
In a communication sent to BIS on April 12, PSQCA has pointed out that the exporter M/S Lucky Cement was a valid CM licence holder of PSQCA whose overall quality was tested under the set procedure. It has further been mentioned that Pakistan standard specification on ordinary portland cement (PS: 232) fully envisages the technical specification compatible with Indian standard specification of cement (IS; 269).
PSQCA has highlighted that as member of Saarc standardisation body, and in furtherance of Safta objectives, Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) are to be overcome through mutual consultations and understanding.
The PSQCA as a national standards body (NSB) and being a signatory of WTO/TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) agreement, has requested BIS to inform about the technical regulations in-force in India in this regard so that Pakistani exporters could be informed in advance of the implication and are in a position to avoid such unpleasant situation in future.
The BIS response is awaited by the PSQCA. About four to five consignments of around 5,000 metric tonnes of Pakistani cement are under detention for want of BIS certification, it is learnt.
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