The Customs and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) have agreed to provide every possible assistance to exporters during examination of consignment at ports to avoid damage of perishable and non-perishable goods, besides speeding up the clearance process.
It was decided at a meeting held with Chief Executive of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Tariq Ikram on Friday. The meeting was also attended by the representative of ANF, Customs, exporters' associations and container terminals.
It was the second meeting called by the TDAP to resolve the issues of exporters to draw a line of action to minimise the process time of export cargo examination and ensure its safety at ports. Exporters expressed concerns over the unskilfully unwrapping of cartons of export goods by the customs and ANF officials for examination purposes, which caused them huge financial losses and also resulted in return of consignment from other countries. They also complained that long delays in cargo examination by the ANF was also creating problems in timely dispatch of cargo.
The ANF representative accepted the responsibility for unnecessary delays, and assured the exporters that the ANF would help facilitate the exporters in smooth clearance of the cargo. The container terminal operators suggested that the customs and ANF officials should inform them about the problem with the export cargo, instead of shipper, whom they would inform later so that the losses in the shape of cargo damage could be reduced.
Tariq Ikram added that terminals would be provided with details of the marked export cargo consignments and their operators would inform the shippers to repack the unwrapped goods. Exporters suggested that the cargo marking should be posted with the printed tapes to indicate that it had been examined and cleared by the authorities concerned.
It has also been discussed that concerned exporters' organisation would provide certificate for perishable goods, including food, vegetable and seafood export goods, to the customs to minimise the examination process. However, Tariq Ikram made it clear that it would be the discretion of the ANF and the customs whether they allowed its shipment unexamined.
The ANF officials pointed out that several anti-drug agencies of the world had warned Pakistan that their governments would stop importing textile products if it did not ensure strict implementation of anti-drug smuggling measures.
However, they agreed to allow the sensitive nature of vaccinations unchecked because they could get expired during the examination process, which they linked to the undertaking of certificate by the concerned exporters' association to show at ports as a guarantee.
The ANF officials reiterated that certificates for export of cargo would be considered significant, but made it clear that on certain information, they could thoroughly examine any kind of consignment to ensure about the cargo status.
Tariq Ikram concluded that perishable and sterilised products would be treated as a special export consignment on the basis of undertaking from the exporter and he should be the member of any trade organisation.
Later, he announced that the TDAP would provide 10 sniffer dogs to the ANF so that the process of cargo examination could be made easy, and urged the trade bodies to play their role in eliminating drug smuggling trend.