Pardon me the liberty of asking a simple question, suppose two people are in the same business of rice export and I am managing the committee conducting Pre-shipment Inspection (PSI) would you accept this or raise an objection?
Rice exporters are subjected to PSI by the Quality Review Committee (QRC) managed by Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), a highly politicised trade body having numerous disputes and complaints with the Director Trade Organisation (DTO).
According to the DTO, REAP takes up 30% of his time in resolving cases filed against one another.
Coming to the PSI by QRC, managed by REAP, believe me, this is the biggest mistake made by the Nawaz Sharif Government which entrusted this responsible job to a body having a vested interest and is a conflict of interest.
Since then we have been inviting the attention of every government, and every government has agreed with us and promised to liberate QRC from REAP but some how or the other the main issue remains and relief is given in bits and parts.
First the office of QRC was in the personal office of the Late Ex-Vice Chairman and on our insistence they shifted it to separate premises, but now again it is in the same building as REAP and they have access to all the information of their competitors.
On our request non basmati rice is exempted from PSI and by the grace of Allah the export of non basmati has increased.
Tarik Ikram, Chairman Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Minister of State, seems impressed with QRC because in his recent statement he has praised QRC, managed by REAP, as reported by you in your columns.
We appreciate his faith in the private sector management of PSI and his concept of private sector promotion but it is like making the player a referee also. In this case it is injurious.
For the sake of argument, even if QRC is well managed by REAP, why should it be managed by exporters themselves?
Apparently, it appears to be well managed but it is not so, but we do not want to go into details. Briefly, there are very many shortcomings, which our Chairman EPB knows and he advised them to improve and purchase equipment.
Nobody bothered to spend money from the huge amounts collected from the PSI fees for the QRC laboratory or training programmes or the education of rice exporters. Kindly order an investigation into the spending because even the taxes have not been paid.
We are thankful to the Chairman EPB who has prevailed upon REAP not to compel exporters to become their members. We have requested the Government to kindly grant the option of PSI, by QRC or TCP, as this will enable the exporters to have their cargo inspected by either of them.
Needless to say that the PSI is the prerogative of the buyer, but since the Government is insisting on PSI it should not charge the PSI fees from the shippers and, secondly, established exporters who are getting repeat orders and have been in business since long should be given the green channel.