FBR suspends enforcement of customs agents licensing rules

The Federal Board of Revenue has suspended implementation of the new customs agents licensing rules to facilitate import and export clearances under the old procedure. In this connection, the FBR on Saturday issued a clarification to All Pakistan Customs Agents Association (APCAA) for implementing the decision.
According to the Customs Law and Procedure Wing, the conditions like registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan would not be implemented till further orders.
The FBR and the APCAA had recently convened a meeting at the FBR House to discuss reservations of the customs agents regarding complexity of new rules. The FBR side was headed by Revenue Division Secretary General M Abdullah Yousuf and the association was represented by the APCAA Chairman Syed Shams Ahmed Burney along with Mohammad Abdullah, information secretary of the association.
On conclusion of the meeting, APCAA General Secretary Arshad Jamal told Business Recorder that the board has granted status quo on the implementation of the new rules. Till implementation of the decisions taken in the meeting, the new rules would not be enforced for the customs agents.
He said that the FBR has taken futuristic approach and agreed to introduce comprehensive amendments in the new rules. A committee comprising customs officials and representatives of the association are jointly working on the revised rules to be notified before budget.
He said that the FBR has agreed to abolish the condition of graduate (BA) for obtaining licenses by the new customs agents and licensing fee has been drastically reduced from Rs 500,000 to 100,000 under the revised licensing rules.
He said that registration of the agents would be done on proprietorship basis by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The previous conditions of registration of directors would not be applicable in the revised rules.
It has also been agreed that the FBR will maintain centralised data of the clearing agents at the board level. The FBR would issue fresh licenses in future on all Pakistan basis instead of collectors of customs.
The validity of the license would remain for five years. In this regard, the FBR has also decided to renew the licenses after every five years and annual renewal condition has been abolished under the amended rules. Moreover, there would be no more annual audit of the customs agents under the arrangement agreed between the two sides. The board has also agreed to re-define the rule 99(2) and evaluate code of conduct.