KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), through a letter to Karachi office, has declared a recently formed committee invalid, which was formed to discuss and share trade data between customs authorities of Pakistan and China.
Sources confirmed Customs Today that FBR has made the recently formed committee invalid by stating that a committee on developing Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for ensuring the product authenticity and sharing trade data between the Customs authorities of two countries has already been working at FBR Headquarters, leaving no need for another committee.
It is pertinent to mention that the Chinese government has expressed its desire to discuss the trade data with Pakistani customs to avoid irregularities in invoicing and mis-declaration.
On which, the FBR Karachi office has recently constituted a 3-member committee comprising of Collector MCC Appraisement-East, Collector MCC Appraisement-West and a Director from Directorate General of Reforms and Automation. However, a team had already been working at FBR Headquarters from Sept, 2013.
Sources informed this scribe that a technical proposal containing the electronic data exchange mode, data requirement and proposed timelines for competition of the technical works would also be shared between the Chinese and Pakistani customs through email.
