There is no official restriction on routine clearance of containers carrying Afghan transit trade consignments according to the present implementation status of the new Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA).
A senior FBR official told Business Recorder here on Monday that at present there is congestion of transit trade containers at Karachi Port and others places including check posts, as the government as a policy decision has suspended Nato supplies to Afghanistan in the wake of November 26, 2011 unprovoked air strikes on two Pakistani check-posts in Mohmand Agency.
Due to shortage of trailers and blockage on highways, the routine clearance of Afghan transit trade consignments has resulted in some delay in clearance of consignments. The regular trade has been affected due to shortage of transport and long queue of containers destined for Afghanistan under the APTTA, official added.
It has been reliably learnt that the FBR is in the process of setting up a committee comprising senior officials of the Board and Model Customs Collectorates including Appraisement Collectorate to monitor and expedite clearance of the Afghan transit trade consignments.
The government wanted to impose transit fee on the Afghan commercial cargo containers under the newly introduced provision of the Customs Act 1969. Pakistani customs authorities have started collecting insurance guarantees on the Afghan transit consignments under the APTTA. The Board had also taken measures to expedite clearance of stuck up Afghan transit trade consignments.
In this regard, a number of decisions have been implemented at the ports under the new transit trade agreement. The proposed transit fee would be imposed in a gradual manner to avoid any reaction from Afghan side. However, the exact timeframe for imposition of the fee has yet to be decided by the Pakistani side.
Sources said that the FBR had introduced an enabling provision in the Customs Act 1969 to collect transit fee on Isaf/Nato containers for which rate of the fee and method of collection has yet to be finalised. The grant of transit facility has increased Customs facilitation and allied operations manifold. In order to provide self-sustaining infrastructure and services at customs stations and en-route, an enabling provision for collection of transit fee is being provided by adding a new section namely 129A in the Customs Act, 1969.
According to the provisions of the section 129A of the Customs Act, a transit fee may be levied on any goods or class of goods in transit across Pakistan to a foreign territory at such rates as the Board may, by notification in the official Gazette, prescribe, it added.