KARACHI: The testing of the Web-Based One Customs (WeBOC) at the Wahga border has been completed, Directorate of Reforms and Automation Director Abdul Majid Yousfani told Customs Today.
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WeBOC is the automation system developed and designed by the Pakistan Customs.
“We expect the WeBOC automation system operational at Wagah border station by end this month after rectifications of the minor errors like replacing TIR with VIR and other such small changes,” Yousfani said.
Not only the testing was conducted in Karachi, where WeBOC is based, but the Wahga border station was also accommodated to test the system simultaneously to provide any feedback that it may has, he added.
The Directorate General Reforms and Automation has planned to bring 80 percent of the land border customs stations under WeBOC by end of this year and the launching of WeBOC at Wahga border is the first step towards achieving that goal.
After Wahga border, the WeBOC land module would be tested at Torkham and Chaman and ultimately WeBOC automation system would also be installed at other major border stations at Taftan, Sust, Quetta Railway Station and Lahore Railway Station.
The automation of the customs processes at the land border customs stations would not only help ease flow of trade across borders but it would also help timely and full collection of duties and taxes.
Though most of imports across customs stations along borders with India, Iran, China and Afghanistan are seasonal, the flow of imports through land stations and land points is high as an average of 5000-6000 good declarations are filed each month.
The combined reach of WeBOC via sea, land and air has increased from 57 percent in 2013 to 63 percent at present and with the rolling out of the land and air WEBOC modules it is expected to cover 80 percent of the sea, land and air stations.
