The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Prgmea) has said that it is ready to sit with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) to formulate changes in the Duty and Tax Remission Rules on Exports (DTRE) scheme to make it acceptable to the small and medium exporters.
Prgmea Chairman Tahir Aziz said on Wednesday that the DTRE scheme in its present form was best suited to the large export manufacturing houses, which had all textile-related activities such as weaving, spinning and dying under one roof.
The Central Board of Revenue (CBR), he said, would have to make changes to make the DTRE rules simple and acceptable to all exporters.
He suggested that any final draft of changes in the DTRE must be circulated among the Prgmea and other textile associations before approval.
He said it had been a practice in the past that the new rules, issued by the CBR, were quite different from what had been agreed with the trade.
Tahir insisted that the most difficult provision of the DTRE was the condition to maintain records for five years as the small and medium exporters did not have resources to maintain a large staff for keeping the records.
He thanked Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar for realising the exporters' problems, vis-à-vis SRO 410, and persuading the CBR for its extension until June 30.