Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Federal Government has announced Export Facilitation Scheme in order to boost exports from Pakistan. In this regard, a high level meeting was convened under the Chairmanship of Chairman FBR in FBR House the other day.
This meeting was attended by Member (Customs-Policy) Javed Ghani, Member (Customs-Operation) Jawwad Uwais Agha, Chief Collectors and other senior officers of Pakistan Custom. The Chairman was apprised that various export schemes have been fully automated and made system compatible. The automated system of Export Facilitation Schemes will decrease the lead time, promote ease of Doing Business and minimize the human interaction between exporters and the department which will make the overall environment business friendly and increase the rating of Pakistan in “DoingBusiness”. Various aspects of these schemes were examined in the meeting and it was apprised that all prevailing schemes have been fully automated and all process from filing of application to approval and afterwards from the import of raw materials to its exports, has been automated and businessman is not required to visit any offices.
Chairman, FBR has stressed on the participants that awareness should be created among the business community about the benefits of these schemes so that maximum number of exporters may use these schemes. Chairman, FBR further instructed that these schemes may be merged so that there is one comprehensive scheme which is simple, trade friendly and easy to use.
According to the details, under the Export Oriented Unit Scheme, duties and taxes on all the imported goods, including machinery, are exempted against certain conditions. In the Manufacturing Bond Scheme, a manufacturer-cum-exporter can establish a manufacturing bond and import raw material used for the manufacture of finished goods without any upfront payment of duty/taxes. This saves cost and hassle of claiming refunds/drawbacks.
The Duty and Tax Remission of Exports Scheme (DTRE) operates under the simple concept of no payment of duties/taxes and no duty-drawbacks. The Commercial exporters can also get DTRE approvals besides manufacturers. The Temporary Importation Scheme entails suspension/exemption from duties/taxes against securities on import of accessories like buttons, zippers, labels etc. used for manufacture and export of goods. This is the easiest scheme available for the exporters wherein the securities are released after exportation of goods.
Furthermore, the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) are established with the objective of boosting industrialization and augmenting country’s exports by creating facilities for investors in order to enable them to set up export oriented units which create job opportunities, bring in new technology and know-how and attract foreign investment.
The goods imported into and exported from the Export Processing Zones are totally free from duty and taxes. Similarly, under the Duty Drawback Scheme, the Federal Board of Revenue repays the customs duties paid on the importation of inputs which have been used in the production, manufacture and processing of goods exported out of Pakistan.
