The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Ministry of Commence are reviewing 20 major proposals of the business community for incorporation in the new trade policy (2012-2015).
Sources told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that the FBR will also submit its comments on the proposals floated by the stakeholders to cover legal and procedural issues involved in each proposal along with their revenue implications of the proposals moved by the stakeholders. Out of these 20 key proposals, most are related to imports and exports where FBR's legal view point is necessary.
The following are the gist of proposals of trade policy (2012-2015) being examined by the FBR and the Commerce Ministry:
1. Import of second hand/used machinery/equipment may be further liberalised. Specific Tariff lines may be worked out in consultation with Ministry of Industries/EDB and FBR.
2. Age restriction of not older than 10 years be removed for machinery by construction companies or under relocation projects. Only condition related to fitness be applied.
3. Extending facility of importing input, borne on restricted list under various temporary importation schemes on the analogy of DTRE.
4. Import of Job lot and stock lot items be completely banned.
5. Pressure horns and parts to be destroyed, if imported in contravention of IPO. -Commerce Ministry has taken up the issue with FBR on the following lines:
Any banned item if imported shall either be re-exported or destroyed in order to ensure their non-entry in local market. Furthermore, it shall not be in any way be brought in market by applying surcharge in any form.
6. Allow import of second/used ambulance, disposal trucks, fire fighting vehicles, prime movers, subject to OEM certificate, PSI and not older than 5 years.
7. Procedure for import of second hand/used motorised wheel chairs be further simplified.
8. Allow export of vegetable ghee and cooking oil up to 25kg packs. Presently it is restricted to packing of 16 kg.
9. Retention of already exported machinery whether locally or imported for projects be allowed abroad for other projects subject to safeguard mechanism without recourse to MoC.
10. Doing away with condition of production of certificate from the same company abroad for repairing of machinery exported after subsequent reimportation, as provided under Chapter 99 of Customs Tariff-EPO doesn't provide any such restriction for machinery exported for repairing and re-import.
11. Definition of PMC materials provided in the EPO vide Sr. No 4 of schedule III may be incorporated to avoid confusion at the time of claiming duty drawback.
12. Definition of "manufacturers", "samples", "EPZ's" and "EPO's" may be added in the IPO make things transparent.
13. The PVMA should be allowed to export vegetable ghee to Iran Gulf states and Central Asian countries. It is also proposed to extend application of DTRE (Duty Tax Remission on Exports) Scheme to whole of the country or at least in the provinces of KPK and Balochistan including Hattar and Hub areas.
14. For the import of old and used specialised vehicles (PCT 8705-9000) depreciation. The following conditions may be imposed to avoid their misuse:-
Age limit, 3 years max; Emission Standard, Euro-III; Pre-Shipment Inspection & Certification be required; remaining Life, 5 years and depreciation (per month and accumulated), 1 percent and 24 percent accumulated.
15. The process of temporary importation should be simple. The scheme of temporary importation of goods vide SRO492(1)/2009 is available to exporters for temporary imports of garment accessories not available locally. But in order to avail this facility aim exporters have to meet 17 requirements such as bank guarantee, declaration of goods at time of imports, export declaration, evidence of export etc.
16. The import of crude palm oil (CPO) being an important ingredient for the making of soap should be allowed. Because it will only use in crude form for manufacturing purposes without any further processing or refinement, not use for edible purposes and thus will not be misused, for view of Industries and FBR.
17. The condition of providing original documents of Afghan customs clearance documents creates a massive problem from the point of view exporters in the form of time and money wastages. Also Peshawar Collectorate seems to quite reluctant to adopt this criteria. There should he some intervention on the matter so that the clearance can be issued urgently along with the submission of claims on the photocopy of Afghan Customs Clearance Documents (ACCD).
18. The large number of items mentioned in lime appendix B Part I of import Policy Orders released by customs is not subjected to any inspection. But according to the Department of Plant Protection and Quarantine Department without inspection in the import of these items is injurious to health for human and animal life and danger for pest and disease for plants.
19. The term "respective heading" in the appendices of Import Policy Orders should not be used, as it is not acceptable to Customs for taking appropriate action because of the introduction of HS codes. Resultantly, HS codes of animals, plants and their respective products have been prepared. This proposed list needs to be discussed in an inter-ministerial meetings attended by the representatives of Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Department of Plant Protection and Animal Quarantine Department, Federal Board of Revenue and National Trade and Transport facilitation Committee. The FBR should specify exact PCT headings instead of respective heading, to be incorporated in the IPO.
20. The Establishment of Sukkur dry port on the initiative of government of Sindh may be expedited through the assistance of Ministry of Finance/FBR, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Railways in the context of necessary approvals and procedural facilitation, to FBR.
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