The Customs Collectorate (Appraisement) has expanded the scope of automated clearance procedure (ACP) by including the importers having import value more than Rs 30 million during one year. The scheme earlier applied on the imports by the Federal and all the provincial governments, public sector organisations and state-owned corporations and defence imports.
The Collectorate, in a standing order, said the clearing agents, who had been clearing goods of such importers in the past one year would be considered as nominated clearing agents, unless otherwise desired by such importers in writing to the Deputy Collector, Import Section, or any proceedings already initiated against the clearing agents under the customs laws.
The order further provided that the importers, who did not meet the ACP criterion, might also apply to the Collector Special Enrolment in the scheme.
The ACP facility would be availed of only for goods imported against valid letter of credit (LC) or registered bank contract.
It is provided that the import of risk-prone commodities would not fall in the purview of the ACP.
The facility would be withdrawn at any stage in cases of misdeclaration and fiscal frauds suspected or detected against the importer or a director in case of a company or firm, it said.
THE ACP WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE IN FOLLOWING CASES:
-- Where the goods declaration (GD) is filed prior to the arrival of the vessel under section 79 (1).
-- Import of scrap of all kinds, second-hand machinery, job lot/stock lot goods.
-- Chemicals on the controlled list or those which could be used in manufacturing of narcotics, psychotropic substance or chemical weapons.
-- Items meant for re-export.
-- Banned/restricted items as per current import, Trade and Procedures Order.
-- Items in Section II (Procedural Requirements) of current import Trade and Procedures Order, except CKD kits of motor cars and other motor vehicles and trucks and buses, or unless allowed by the Customs Collector.
-- Items ordered to be excluded from the ACP due to high risk by the Appraisement Intelligence branch after approval of the Additional Collector in charge and notice issued by the Additional Collector (Imports).
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY:
-- The importers already enrolled in the ACP will continue to enjoy the facility unless they cease to fulfil criterion.
-- In the first phase, only those importers will be eligible who deal with up to five commodities (HS Codes) only, and their import value during the last one-year was more than Rs 100 million.
-- The Rs 100 million limit for the ACP would be gradually brought down to Rs 30 million.
-- The importers will be provided with monthly report of their imports.
-- The status of importers enjoying the ACP will be reviewed annually. If any importer ceases to fulfil the conditions given in para 2 and 3, his name will be expunged from the ACP list.
The Collectorate said the system was aimed at processing the customs declaration made at the time of the import by the notified eligible importers on the GD form using Custom House computer.
However, about 10 percent of such declarations, selected at random, would be checked in detail to ensure their authenticity, he added.
Unless a case is selected for random check, the computer system will print on the GD the words "cleared under ACP". All such GDs will not be presented in Assessment Group for manual assessment or processing.
The assessment will be made automatically by the computer. The details of assessment of such GDs will be scrutinised under post-clearance audit.