KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday ordered the Pakistan Customs to provisionally release the M/s ZAFA Pharmaceuticals Laboratories (Private) Limited’s consignments of raw material for basic manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
A division bench comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Junaid Ghaffar directed the customs authorities to file their comments on the petition before the next date of hearing.
M/s ZAFA Pharmaceuticals Laboratories (Private) Limited petitioned the high court against Pakistan Customs for not clearing its consignments of the raw material.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the company is engaged in manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients which are used as raw material for manufacturing of medicines.
According to the import policy, pharmaceutical (allopathic) raw material of pharmaceutical grade in the form of unprocessed ingredients is allowed to be imported and cleared subject to the conditions laid down by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan. The customs authorities are legally bound to allow clearance of such consignments on the basis of a certificate to be issued by DRAP.
However, this condition is not applicable on the import of chemicals by the active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturers as these are not pharmaceutical raw materials.
The counsel said that Federal Board of Revenue had also granted sales tax exemption on the import and supply of raw material for basic manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients and pharmaceutical products.
Moreover, he said, the Ministry of Health had also clarified that the chemicals for manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients are not allopathic raw-material and therefore, they did not come within purview of the Drugs Imports and Exports Rules 1976.
However, the counsel stated that the customs authorities are misinterpreting the law and declining the clearance of the chemicals without the certificate which otherwise is required for import of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
The court was pleaded to restrain the customs authorities from demanding DRAP’s certificate for clearance of the chemicals and order provisional release of the petitioner’s consignments till the matter is decided.
