Afghan Transit Trade Rules 2011: Pakistani customs to examine all containers with broken seals

Pakistani customs authorities have been empowered to examine 100 percent containers with broken seals carrying transit goods for Afghanistan to avert missing containers'' scams in future under the new Afghan Transit Trade Rules 2011.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Thursday that the new Afghan Transit Trade Rules 2011 has issued a procedure for examination of containers under the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA). The 100 percent containers arriving at port of exit will be subject to examination under the risk management system in case of any information or if the seals are not intact. The examination shall be carried out in presence of the concerned Assistant/Deputy collector.
As per new rules, the triplicate copy of goods declaration bearing mate receipt (MR) number, cross-border stamp and examination endorsement shall be treated as cross-border certificate to ensure that containers actually reach Afghanistan.
According to the procedure related to the Afghan transit export at Karachi, on arrival of Afghan transit export cargo in Afghani standardised trucks and open vehicles (in case of perishable goods) at sea ports, the Afghan exporter or his authorised clearing agent shall present the customs staff the duplicate and triplicate hard copies of Goods declaration (GD) along with TAD if required in some cases, and other relevant documents, marked as "In Transit from Afghanistan" to respective foreign countries through sea.
On arrival of goods at port of loading, the driver of the truck or the clearing agent shall get the gate pass from the Preventive gate officer or sepoy posted at the gate. The gate officer shall tally container number, vehicle number, GD number and shipping bill number etc and allow the vehicle to enter the port area.
The Afghan Transit Trade Rules 2011 further stated that the clearing agent shall present GD and gate pass to the preventive staff who along with the PRAL staff shall make entry in the manual register and feed the container number, number of containers, number of cartons/packages in the container, shipping bill number as mentioned in the GD into the system. After feeding of all the details in the system, a registration serial number shall be generated which shall be marked on the face of GD. The Preventive gate staff shall sign and stamp "Pass-in" bearing number of containers on the reverse of the GD before allowing the vehicle to enter the terminal area.
It said that after "pass-in" at the port area, the clearing agent shall go to port weigh scale for weighing the containers and shall get the weight slip. After getting the slip, the vehicle will move to the Afghan transit shed or the specified area for de-stuffing. The cargo shall be unloaded in Afghan Sheds at Karachi port or Port Muhammad Bin Qasim, Gwadar or in case of containerised cargo, the container shall be unloaded at shipping line yard or the port/terminal.
The PCCSS staff shall dc-seal after verifying seal and railways wagon/vehicle number. He will tally the particulars of the documents with that of the vehicle and inspect the seal before allowing entry to the concerned Afghan cargo shed. The PCCSS staff shall check and verify the particulars fed in on-line computer system as substantiated in sub-chapter 5 of the rules.
The clearing Agent shall present the GD to examination staff (Export) for registration. The detailed examination of goods will be dispensed with if the seals are intact. In case of short shipment, the examination staff shall stamp the GD mentioning short-shipped cargo bearing number of containers and number of packages and value of the goods on the reverse of the GD.
At the terminal, after inspection, Afghan cargo shall be off loaded in the presence of Customs officer and representative of the owner of the goods. AO processing (Export) shall cross check the particulars of the GD and send it to the concerned Principal Appraiser. After the GD is out of customs charge, the PA Afghan Transit Export shall "allow shipment" and the Preventive staff shall "allow loading" in the system and the goods shall be loaded on vessel for foreign country.
The customs officer will enter acknowledgement of transit goods in the ''One Customs'' clearance system. The triplicate copy of GD bearing MR number, cross-border stamp and examination endorsement shall be sent back to the Customs Station at Torkham or Chaman from where the goods have entered Pakistan while the Customs authorities at Karachi shall retain duplicate copy for record in MCD section. This triplicate copy shall be treated as cross-border certificate.
If the Appraising/Examining Officer points out any difference in marks and number of the containers or in case of any discrepancy in weighing or unusual detection in the scanning of the cargo, the violation will attract the penal provisions embodied in these rules, Customs Rules 2011 added.