LAHORE: Raids during night time at the godowns have been prohibited while consignments of those importers are not being confiscated who have all legal documents.
This was stated by Collector Customs Enforcement & Compliance Basit Maqsood Abbasi on Thursday.
He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry. LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah and Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan also spoke on the occasion while former Senior Vice President Ali Hussam Asghar, former Vice President Zeshan Khalil, Executive Committee Members Shahid Nazir, Mardan Ali Zaidi, Malik Riaz, Haji Muhammad Asif Sehar, Ali Afzal and former EC Member Aqib Asif were also present.
The Collector Customs said that smuggling is causing huge loss to the national exchequer and the legal importers. Therefore, a good drive against smuggling was need of the hour. He said that anti-smuggling drive by the Customs Department would be beneficial for the legal importers and national economy.
While answering a question, he said that the department will extend full cooperation as far as de-stuffing is concerned. He said that those consignments would not be checked that are going out of Lahore after due clearance.
The Collector Customs said that the department will extend all possible cooperation to the business community in the larger interest of the country.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah said that whatever issues were raised with him from the LCCI platform, they were resolved immediately.
He said that the Customs Department and the business community have to work in close coordination with each other for carrying out business activities without any conflict of interests. It should be ensured that business community should feel comfortable while dealing with Customs officials.
He said that importers are facing various problems while transporting imported goods from the ports to their warehouses as they are frequently stopped by Customs personnel on various check points. He demanded that consignments once cleared by Customs Authorities should not be checked time and again while transporting to upcountry regions.
The LCCI President said that unnecessary delays in clearance of goods on part of Customs Department should be minimized to save businesses from incurring financial losses. He said that the government should employ all the resources to control smuggling at the borders. The staff of Frontier Corps should be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment so that better vigilance can be ensured.
“We oppose the raids of Customs officials at godowns and confiscation of goods/consignments. It is creating a lot of harassment among the business community. We propose that businessmen should be given at least three days to provide the necessary documents to prove that all the formalities have been completed”, he added.
Mian Tariq Misbah said that LCCI members have complained that sometimes their shipments are assessed for valuation on retail price of imported commodities which is higher than the wholesale price. The Customs officials must understand that containers are booked in bulk and cut-rate prices are mentioned in import documents.
Moreover, he said, Customs Officials for Valuation apply different parameters while assessing the valuation of different import consignments containing similar items. Similarly, the consignment containing uniform packing should only be inspected. The current practice at Karachi port of examining or de-stuffing the consignments should be stopped.
He said that additional charges at Lahore ports are also causing problems for importers and should be withdrawn. Else, it will induce the importers to get their valuation done at Karachi port. He said that the Customs Officials deputed at Airports should act as facilitators rather than causing unnecessary problems for the importers and exporters.
LCCI Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan said that legal importers are facing huge difficulties as compared to those who are doing illegal trade. He said that smuggling should be stopped at borders and Chambers & Associations should be taken on board while taking trade and industry related decisions.
