ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has started preparing Export Policy Order (EPO) and Import Policy Order (IPO) in consultation with stakeholders.
The EPO and IPO are basic tools to regulate imports and exports as well as to check the undocumented imports and exports in a bid to avoid loss to revenue collection.
Sources told Customs Today that MoC had issued two statutory regulations orders (SROs) — SRO No. 344 (I)/2016 and 345(I)/2016.
Through these SROs, the sources said that MoC had sought input from the stakeholders for the preparation of the EPO and IPO.
Presently, most of the undocumented import and exports is carried out through land routes including Chaman, Tarkham, Kharlachi, Tremengal, Burki, Shaheed and, Ghulam Khan ad Tank to Afghanistan, Sust to China, Wahgah to India and Taftan to Iran because Pakistan shared borders with Iran, Afghanistan, India and China.
The source said that there was no reliable method to gauge the precise volumes of un-documented import/ export of goods as well as MoC had not carried out any study to measure the impact of un-documented export of goods.
The source said that at present, the Pakistan Customs scrutinize the entire documents related to import and exports in order to keep a check on undocumented export of goods, In terms of effective enforcement along the border, the fundamental role is that of customs and other agencies managing the borders.
The source recalled that total volume of undocumented exceeded billions of rupees which was an irreparable loss to both the national economy and national revenue. Therefore, on the initiatives of the Pakistan Customs, the Finance Ministry sensed the gravity of the issue and initiated a process for the preparation of some regulations to overcome this menace.
