The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce ad Industry (FPCCI) has vehemently rejected the Trade Organisation Rules (TOR) 2013, whereby the DGTO/Regulator has been vested with vast discretionary powers to exploit trade bodies.
The TOR 2013 came to under discussion at the executive committee meeting of FPCCI held on May 20, 2013 at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry with Zubair Ahmed Malik, President, FPCCI in the chair and attended by the office-bearers, presidents and chairmen of various chambers of commerce and industry and associations respectively. The participants also demanded that the enforcement of TOR 2013 should be immediately stopped and in the meantime it should be redrafted in consultation with the representatives of FPCCI.
In this respect some members referring to the Bhurban Declaration passed in the Bhurban Business Convention organised by the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry recalled that the declaration has out rightly rejected the Trade Organisations Ordinance (TOO), 2013 and TOR 2013.
The meeting was also informed that TOO 2013 and TOR 2013 nowhere in the world, except Pakistan and Bangladesh. The meeting also discussed TOO, 2013 and TOR, 2013; considered FPCCI proposals for the upcoming Federal Budget 2013-14. The business community opined that in the presence of the companies' laws of SECP there is no need of the DGTO office or of TOR. It was also decided in the meeting that FPCCI will form a committee to review the TOR 2013 and make necessary recommendations for incorporation in it.
A comprehensive presentation on FPCCI's budget proposals, was made in the meeting which was highly appreciated by the members. The FPCCI proposals stressed that the tax must be equitable and fair between different classes of society and sectors of economy including agriculture, convenience of taxpayers should be focused.
The prominent members who attended the meeting were Tariq Sayeed, Iftikhar Ali Malik, Tanveer Ahmed Shaikh, Saifullah Khan Paracha and Chaudary Mohammad Saeed, former presidents FPCCI, Azhar Saeed Butt, Vice President and Chairman FPCCI Regional office Lahore, Shaheen Ilyas Sarwana, Abdul Khaliq Khan, Gulzar Firoz, Khawaja Mohammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Zafar Jalil Khan Mastikhel, Vice Presidents, FPCCI, Zakaria Usman, Shaikh Jamil Mehboob Magoon, Mahmood Ahmed, former vice presidents, and Zafar Bakhtawri, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other renowned members of the business community.-PR