KARACHI: The Pakistan Customs has warned the official regarding disclosure, publishing or dissemination of trade information of any person and those found involved in such a practice would face three years imprisonment.
Sources told Customs Today that the move is aimed at eliminating such illegal activities while the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has established a Monitoring Wing in both Inland Revenue and Pakistan Customs Services.
The sources said that the Customs laws are very strict about the disclosure of information as available in 155H of Customs Act, 1969 regarding confidentiality of information.
They said that all trade information gathered by customs during clearance of goods shall be confidential and shall not be used except for: statistical purpose by the department and other government organizations; or purpose of comparison and evidence as against other imports and exports; or production as evidence before a legal forum or an organization explicitly so authorized by the federal government; and any disclosure, publishing or dissemination of trade information of any person except as provided above without his explicit permission to any other person shall be offence.
The law is clear about penalties on such offence stating that if any persons discloses, publishes or otherwise disseminate trade information of any person to any other person except as authorized in these cases such person shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding Rs 200,000 and on conviction before a special judge to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both, sources added.
Recently, the Directorate General of Post Clearance Audit also issued warning informing the auditors that they need to be aware of the provisions of Section 155H, whereby the breach of the confidentiality is an offence punishable under section 156 (1)(100) of the Customs Act, 1969.
The auditors have been directed that during the course of a trader’s audit, the auditors are likely to acquire considerable information relating to the trader’s business activities.
The auditors must respect the confidentiality of the information acquired during the audit. It is the policy of the Federal Board of Revenue to treat personal and business information provided by traders with strict confidence.
The auditors shall neither disclose the information un-authorizedly nor use it for any personal gains or in any manner that would be contrary to the law or detrimental to the legitimate business activities of the traders.
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