ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Polypropylene Woven Sack Manufacturers Association (PPWSMA) has urged the government to replace inferior quality paper stamps with QR code printed polypropylene bags.

The Association's Chairman, Iskandar Khan, in a letter has congratulated the Prime Minister for initiating implementation of Track and Trace System (TTS) on major industrial sectors.

According to PPWSMA, it has always supported documentation of economy through use of technology. However, it wants to document the following serious deficiencies in currently proposed paper stamps for TTS; (i) the QR Code printed stamps are made of paper and are prone to the environmental factors such as heat, humidity, dust and expansion during prolonged storage. While, as the surface to surface friction of polypropylene bags generates static electricity, paper stamps on polypropylene bags will peel off and get damaged during loading and unloading as observed on the attached polypropylene bag; (ii) compared to the QR code printed paper stamps, the printing of QR code on polypropylene bags is durable as they cannot be removed nor get damaged and contains the same and even superior characteristics compared to the QR code printed paper stamps i.e., can be traced and read by using simple mobile camera or scanner. and;(iii) the present QR code printed paper tax stamps and applicator equipment introduced for TTS are expensive and being imported at the cost of precious foreign exchange that can be saved by mandatory printing of QR codes on polypropylene bags under SRO 250(0)/2019 of February 26, 2019 with no extra costs to the GoP.

PPWSMA maintained that instead of wasting precious foreign exchange on the imported QR code printed paper stamps and allied equipments, the use of indigenous QR code technology will expand the scope of TTS and tax monitoring to all sectors of the economy that use polypropylene bags for industrial packaging.

In the light of facts and to save the spending of foreign exchange every year, PPWSMA has requested the government to replace inferior quality paper stamps with QR code printed polypropylene bags.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021