The Collectorate of Customs (Export) is working on a project for automated processing of duty drawback claims which would expedite payment to the exporters amounting Rs 10 billion annually.
The Collector of Customs (Export), Javed Qazi told Business Recorder on Saturday that under the new system exporters would be required to file electronically a single document known as Composite Declaration (CD), instead of providing a bunch of documents as in practice now.
The CD would be processed through the automated system being prepared by the Pakistan Revenue Automated Lieutenant (Pral) and sanctioning for payment of claims would be electronically communicated to the banks, which would make payment on receipt of remittances from abroad.
He said that the automated processing would drastically cut the time taken, which presently is longer due to the manual system. It would also eliminate chances of corruption by ending physical contacts between the exporters and the Custom staff.
The system is expected to be introduced at Karachi from July this year and would be later extended to other export stations.
The computer software being designed would do quick calculation of duty drawback amounts due on a claim and would also contain rates admissible on export of different products, besides containing all relevant SROs for ready reference.
The Export Collectorate has already introduced electronic filing and processing of shipping bill at the Karachi Port and Air Freight Unit (AFU).