LAHORE: The Pakistan FMCG Importers Association (PFIA), felicitating the Customs Department on the occasion of the International Customs Day, has emphasized the department to play an effective role in curb the smuggling, especially of packaged food items.
In a joint statement issued on Saturday, the PFIA Patron-in-Chief Naseem Chawla, Chairman Anjum Nisar, Senior Vice-Chairman Nafees-ur-Rehman Barry and Zia-ul-Haq said the customs department needs to devise a strategy for law abiding importers and departments like Punjab Food Authority (PFA) on board to check the smuggled food items besides discouraging the marketing of counterfeit, smuggled and expired packaged food items.
They said the import of such items discourages those importers who believe in paying due taxes, and smuggling throws them out of the competition in the market. They said the counterfeit or expired items cause harm to the health of the consumers also.
They said the coordinated efforts would ensure that people get duty-paid and quality food items. ‘We can bring down the budget being spent on health sector to almost half in two years if we can ensure provision of quality food items imported through formal channel, maintained the PFIA leadership.
