ISLAMABAD: The Air Fright Unit (AFU), Islamabad, does not have immediate clearance group to clear perishable goods.
According to sources, the Islamabad Customs has told the Directorate of Reforms and Automation that the current workload does not warrant establishment of such a unit.
Sources added that the collectorate is still following the “prior release” clearance procedure. The WeBOC does not accommodate goods where Import General Manifest (IGM) is yet to be filed. The perishable goods require immediate clearance. Therefore, it is proposed that a special module under the provisions of sub-section 3 of section 79 of the Customs Act, 1969 be evolved to regulate the perishable and other goods requiring immediate clearance.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in certain cases allows importers to avail the facility of deferred payments, the available WeBOC modules however does not accommodate the cases of such importers, therefore modules of clearance under deferment of payment rules may also be prepared to provide facility under 97 of Customs Act 1996. Sources said that preparation of above mention modules will help switching of importers from one customs to WeBOC.
