Shipping lines and their principals may withdraw their services to/from Pakistan in case FIA continues to question them on the pretext of "non-implementation" of State Bank of Pakistan''s FE Circular No 6 of May 15, 2006. The State Bank of Pakistan had issued FE Circular No 2 on April 14, 2010 addressing stakeholders'' concerns vis-à-vis FE Circular No 6 which relates to remittance of freight charges by freight forwarders/consolidators.
Needless to say, withdrawal of services by PSAA members and their principals would badly hurt Pakistan''s trade and national economy. Amir Ali Jamal, Secretary-General of PSAA, in a letter sent to Secretary, Ministry of Commerce (MoC), Islamabad on April 17, 2010 drew his attention that despite the Ministry''s letter sent to FIA Director General on February 13, 2010 to keep the action pending, FIA continues to question PSAA members on the pretext of "non-implementation" of FE Circular No 6.
He has once again requested the MoC to raise the issue with FIA to stop this intervention. PSAA members are being called in on regular basis, without benefit of legal counsel, on generalised non-specific basis "which sends a discouraging message to our members and their Principals which may eventually cause them to consider withdrawing their services to/from Pakistan."
Jamal said the important aspect to bear in mind is that SBP FE Circular No 2 of April 14, 2010 contains adequate safeguards for the exporters, whilst also ensuring compliance with international best practices and law thereby enabling shipping lines to implement it in toto. "Naturally, in case there are any genuine cases of mis-delivery attributable to shipping lines/agents, our members would be willing to cooperate in such investigations," he assured.
The Ministry of Commerce had written a letter, on February 13, to the Director General of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) informing him that the Danish Ambassador had held a meeting with the Commerce Minister on February 12, in which, inter alia, the House Bill of Lading and Master Bill of Lading, being issued by freight forwarders, was discussed. The Danish Ambassador expressed concern that criminal investigations are being considered against all parties involved in this matter. The MoC is already working on this issue and meetings are being held with concerned parties to resolve the issue, which are of technical nature.
The FIA Director General was asked that the concerned officers in FIA may be advised to keep the action pending, if any, being taken against the parties involved in the issue of House Bill of Lading/Master Bill of Lading. Through FE Circular No 2 of April 14, SBP had drawn attention of all authorised dealers in foreign exchange and shipping companies/airlines/agents/freight forwarders to clauses 1, 2 & 3 of FE Circular No 6 in terms of which shipping companies/airlines or their authorised agents were allowed to issue Master Bill of Lading (MBL)/Master Airway Bills (MAWB) in the name of freight forwarders (as shippers), subject to the terms and conditions as mentioned in the said Circular.
The concerned stakeholders have recently raised certain observations/difficulties on full implementation of the said clauses of the Circular. In order to address the same, the above referred clauses are substituted/replaced with the following with immediate effect:
-- Name of the freight forwarders/consolidators will appear in shipper column of MBL followed by the wording "on behalf of exporter (s)" along with their names, related House Bill of Ladings/Airway Bills'' numbers and dates. The above information may either be provided on the face of the MBL/MAWB or as an attachment with the notation on the MBL/MAWB as per the "attachment which constitutes an integral part of the MBL/MAWB."
-- Name of the counterpart of freight forwarders/consolidators will appear in consignee column of MBL.
-- Name of the counterpart of freight forwarders/consolidators will appear as notify party of column of MBL.
-- (a) In case of FCL/FCL, CY/CY shipments, both MBL and HBL will be attached and sent through bank for the receiver to retire and freight forwarders/consolidators to be given delivery. Shipping lines will not deliver cargo unless shipping lines'' MBL is surrendered at destination.
-- (b) In case of LCL shipments, the cargo will be released/delivered to the freight forwarders'' counterpart at the port of discharge who will release/deliver the goods against duly endorsed HBL only.
-- In the body of the MBL following may be mention: (a) goods description (b) E-Form number & date of issue (c) corresponding HBL number issued against carrier''s B/L, and (d) actual importer at destination.
-- Under no circumstances, the freight forwarders/consolidators/their agents or agents of shipping company/airline may surrender MBL/MAWB to the carrier/agent in Pakistan and must instead be presented to the carrier by the overseas freight forwarder/agents at the destination/port of discharge.
Further, in the context of related regulations and undertaking on Form ''E'', the exporters/banks before carrying out transactions with their counterparts, freight forwarders, etc, should exercise due diligence/take necessary precautions to mitigate allied risks while making such arrangements. Other terms and conditions of the above referred Circular will remain unchanged. Authorised dealers and all concerned may be guided accordingly and ensure meticulous compliance thereof, the Circular said.
As per the FE Circular No 6 of May 15, 2006, freight forwarders, as declared under the Trade Policy 2005-06, were allowed remittance of locally collected freight charges to their principals abroad. However, such remittances were to require SBP''s prior approval.
In order to further facilitate the industry, it was decided to allow authorised dealers to affect such remittances directly on behalf of concerned freight forwarder/consolidators. Authorised dealers were allowed to remit on a monthly basis, the surplus freight by the freight forwarder/consolidators, after verification of documentary evidence in support of the remittance. In order to mitigate inherent risks and establish genuineness of transactions; authorised dealers were required verification through certain documents at the time of allowing monthly remittances by the SBP.
Authorised dealers were also required to report all such transactions to Foreign Exchange Operation Department (FEOD), SBP Banking Services Corporation, Karachi with copies of supporting documents obtained from the freight forwarders/consolidators by the 15th of the following month. They were supposed to retain copies of all such supporting documents at their remitting branches for SBP inspection as and when required or called for.
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