Over 400 containers of solar panels, invertors and other equipment used in solar technology are stuck at ports, due to delayed implementation of SRO 604/2019. This was revealed in a letter sent to the Secretary for Commerce by FPCCI Vice President Arshad Jamal.
It said that the consignments of solar panels, invertors and other equipment used in solar technology were previously imported on the standards and conditions specified by the government of Pakistan as per last import policy order. However, the Ministry of Commerce has imposed new requirement through SRO 604/2019 on May 28, 2019 for the import of aforesaid items with no consultation or advance intimation to the traders, customs authorities, Pakistan Standards Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and others.
Following this lack of coordination between the ministry and other government departments, large number of consignments has been released under previous order and over 400 containers of said items have been arrived at port. However, the Ministry has issued clarification and mentioned July 4 2019 as the date of implementation of new requirement but over 400 containers were stuck at ports as they were arrived under previous order and were not cleared before July 4, 2019.
Therefore, the board is requested to release all these consignments under para 4 of import policy order, which gives an option to release the goods. Para 4 of the import policy order says: "Import of all goods is allowed from worldwide sources unless otherwise elsewhere specified to be banned, prohibited or restricted in this order. Provided that the amendments brought in this order from time to time shall not be applicable to such imports where bill of lading or letter of credit were issued or established prior to the issuance of amending order."
Furthermore, the letter said that in this case, traders, PSQCA and customs authorities were not taken on board and they remained unaware about this new development hence SRO was not fed in WeBOC system, timely. Resultantly, a large number of consignments have been released without fulfilling the conditions mentioned in referenced SRO and over 400 containers were arrived at ports under previous order.
It said that due to delayed implementation of SRO 604, traders were presently facing huge financial losses on account of heavy port charges and container rents, which had to be paid in foreign exchange besides they were also not in a position to re-export all these consignments and import it again just to fulfil the condition of Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI).
The letter further said the purpose of this requirement could also be served through post shipment inspection as all these shipments were qualifying the standards specified in referenced SRO and termed this new requirement unjustified as it was affecting the trade just to fulfil a procedural condition of PSI.
Therefore, the letter requested the Secretary Commerce to condone the condition of PSI and release all containers shipped on or before 1st of July, 2019 under post shipment inspection through inspection companies listed at Appendix "H" of IPO to facilitate the trade in avoiding further financial losses.
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