ISLAMABAD: Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Asim Ahmad said on Thursday that the regulatory duties imposed through time-bound notifications on the import of luxury items including vehicles and mobile phones were expired on March 31, 2023.

He was talking to the media after a visit to the Directorate General of Customs Intelligence here on Thursday.

According to FBR chairman, the new notification has yet to be issued. However, the decision relating to the import or imposition of regulatory duties on vehicles and mobile phones is the domain of the Ministry of Commerce.

Effective from March 8th: 25pc ST on luxury goods notified

The regulatory duties imposed on vehicles and mobile phones have been expired on March 31, 2023. The time-bound SROs dealing with the RDs on cars and mobile phones were expired and therefore RDs were automatically withdrawn from these items at the import stage.

“There is no urgency to immediately re-impose RDs on the import of vehicles and luxury mobile phones”, he said.

He said that the regulatory duties on the import of mobile phones and vehicles were imposed/increased up to the period of March 31, 2023.

The said time-bound SROs were expired. Presently, luxury and non-essential items are not imported.

However, the FBR is only empowered to issue the new notification on the imposition of the RDs on the import of these items. This requires the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce which would be implemented by the FBR. In this regard, the final decision would be taken by the Ministry of Commerce and the FBR would subsequently issue the necessary SROs, Asim Ahmad added.

Asim Ahmad, Chairman FBR visited Customs Intelligence Headquarters Islamabad with a view to applaud the anti-smuggling operations of the agency.

On Thursday, the DG I&I Customs briefed FBR Chairman Asim Ahmad on the anit-smuggling operations which were conducted by the Directorate General of Intelligence & Investigation-Customs in the province of Balochistan, Rawalpindi/ Islamabad and Karachi.

Faiz Ahmad, Director General Intelligence & Investigation-Customs informed the FBR chairman that the anti-smuggling operations of the Directorate General of Intelligence & Investigation-Customs has resulted in seizure of essential commodities, dry fruits, cigarettes, Indian Origin Gutka& Shisha flavor worth Rs 754 million during the last four days.

In recognition of the efforts of the Directorate General in combating the menace of smuggling, Asim Ahmad, Chairman FBR visited the Customs Intelligence Headquarters on Thursday and lauded the efforts of Faiz Ahmad, Director General and his team.

The DG assured the chairman FBR that no stone will be left unturned in eradicating smuggling in the country in line with the policy of the federal government.

The Directorate General Customs Intelligence shows strong resolve to deal the smugglers with iron hands.

The visit of the chairman is also a strong message to the smugglers that the smuggling will not be tolerated in any area of the country.

The DG further stated that the godowns from where the smuggled goods have been recovered in Karachi and Rawalpindi are located in densely populated areas of Karachi.

The local residents who are under the influence of smugglers and their accomplices throng together and prevent Law Enforcement Agencies from executing any enforcement action, whenever undertaken. In this backdrop it was extremely challenging for Customs Intelligence, teams to conduct the instant operations.

However, these were meticulously planned and executed in a professional manner ensuring recovering of huge quantities of smuggled goods without resulting in any collateral damage.

Thus, during the ongoing drive against the smuggling of essential commodities, the Customs Intelligence has seized 41,883 bags ofu fertilizer having market value of Rs 167.532 million and 44,957 bags of sugar having market worth of Rs 224.785 million. These operations during the last week end have successfully foiled attempt to smuggle to Afghanistan huge quantities of 86,840 bags of essential commodities with cumulative worth of Rs 392.317 million which is a severe blow to the smuggling mafia, the DG Customs added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023