Speakers at a seminar have lauded the efforts of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for setting up Customs Post Clearance Audit Directorate and said this move will not only facilitate the importers in clearance matters but also reduce shipment release time. The seminar on "Benefits of Customs Post Clearance Audit" was held at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Friday.
LCCI Vice President Sohail Azhar was the chief guest while Director PCA Khawaja Omer Mehdi, Toshiya Sato, Senior Representative JICA and LCCI former Vice President Aftab Ahmad Vohra also spoke on the occasion. The seminar was attended by all the stakeholders including business leaders, LCCI members and the representatives of Custom Collectorate (North) and Lahore Customs Clearing Agents Association.
The speakers expressed satisfaction that Customs Post Clearance Audit Directorate has been established with trained human resource to conduct post clearance audit and hopefully this Directorate, with its stated mission would come a long way in maximising facilitation at the clearance level. They added that reducing shipment release time is the need of the hour.
The LCCI Vice President, Sohail Azhar, said on the occasion that the FBR deserves appreciation for establishing this organisation. In the past, he said there had been many issues that arose because of the delay in processes and in many cases the procedural difficulties led to litigations but the establishment of Customs Post Clearance Audit Directorate would check litigations because of the streamlined processes and the effective working. Former Vice President LCCI, Aftab Ahmad Vohra, while appreciating the officers posted at Lahore, said that there must not be only one Customs Audit but post clearance Audit should be conducted under CARE. Director PCA Khawaja Omer Mehdi sought support from all the stakeholders to make the system a success. Senior representative JICA Toshiya Sato appreciated the efforts of FBR for the establishment of the organisation.