LAHORE: As a part of its ongoing digitalization drive and a giant leap towards paperless business environment, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has launched online version of Certificate of Origin (CO), an integral part of export documents. The CO is used for verification that the exported products were wholly obtained, produced or manufactured in a particular country.
“The origin does not refer to the country where the goods were shipped from but to the country where they were made. If a product is manufactured in two or more countries, origin is obtained in the country where the last substantial economically justified working or processing is carried out,” the LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari told the media after pressing the computer button to formally launch the online CO here.
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He said the Lahore Chamber would continue to facilitate its members to enable them to utilize maximum time for enhancing their respective businesses instead of remaining busy in unnecessary paper work. LCCI has become the first and only chamber in Pakistan that was striving to provide online services to its members, he added.
Lashari said that online submission of Certificate of Origin was a great time saving move enabling the exporters to complete and submit the Certificate of Origin from their place of business. It would also help improve economy because the data derived through online submission would give exact figures about the exports, he said, asserting that a number of economic problems had direct relation to unavailability of actual data. Therefore, LCCI had made an attempt to supplement government’s efforts aimed at putting the economy back on track.
LCCI Vice President Kashif Anwar said the Lahore Chamber had already taken a number of measures for facilitation of its members including establishment of IFC-backed Mediation Centre, Trade Facilitation Centre and SMEDA Help Desk.
Earlier, LCCI Membership Committee Chairman Zafar Mehmood briefed the participants about online submission of the Certificate of Origin.
He also appreciated the LCCI membership department’s head Moin Siddique and IT Department’s Muhammad Anis for timely completion of the online Certificate of Origin Project.
LCCI Executive Committee Member Mian Muhammad Afzal and over two hundred CEOs and export managers of LCCI member firms attended the launching ceremony and training session of online submission of the CO held at Lahore Chamber.
