The Union of Small & Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has rightly invited the attention of Federal Secretary, Commerce, that the Quality Review Committee (QRC) managed by Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) is not a member of the International Federation of Inspection Agencies (IFIA) and as such not qualified to carry out Pre-shipment Inspection (PSI) of rice export cargo to global destinations.
The membership of IFIA is a must and without it no PSI company can function and it is very surprising that although the attention of QRC was drawn to the requirement they never bothered to give it any consideration nor applied for its membership.
Perhaps knowing that even if it applies for membership it will not be eligible because the rules state as under: "The WTO PSI Agreement recognises that GATT 1994 principles and obligations apply to the activities of preshipment inspection agencies mandated by governments.
The obligations placed on PSI-user governments include non-discrimination, transparency, protection of confidential business information, avoidance of unreasonable delay, the use of specific guidelines for conducting price verification and the avoidance of conflicts of interest by PSI agencies.
The obligations of exporting members towards PSI users include non-discrimination in the application of domestic laws and regulations and the provision of technical assistance where requested."
We have requested the Secretary to remove the conflict of interest and hand over its management to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) or the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) forthwith. This requirement was deliberately overlooked by the political government of Nawaz Sharif although it was pointed out to him but he wanted to favour his favourites and designed this system to give his friends a weapon against their competitors.
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