KARACHI: Replacing the remnants of One Customs system by WeBOC, the paperless Pakistan Customs system, bringing regulatory ministries and semi-autonomous bodies into the WeBOC system and expanding the universal footprint of WeBOC nationwide are the top priorities of the Directorate General of Reforms and Automation (R&A), FBR.
This was stated by the Director General of Directorate of R&A, Tariq Ahad Nawaz while talking to Customs Today. Mr. Ahad arrived in Karachi on December 22.
The term “Universal Footprint,” he elaborated, means that the use of WeBOC system at all the Customs stations across the country would now be the same. For instance, so far the WeBOC clearance system has been used primarily at Karachi while in many other parts of the country its use was as low as 57 percent, he said. “We have removed the hitches to ensure that if for instance in Karachi its use is 92 percent the use elsewhere would be also 92 percent,” he added.
Nawaz informed Customs Today that the reach of WeBOC Customs system has now expanded to cover 70 percent of the customs clearance. It may be mentioned here that WeBOC was first rolled out in Karachi in 2012 and a year later, that is in 2013 it was rolled out nationwide.
“Currently our emphasis is to bring regulatory bodies including the ministries and the government departments, particularly those issue permit and certificates, about the benefits of using WeBOC as the single window automated real-time platform of WeBOC. Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Member (Customs) FBR Nisar Muhammad Khan briefed representatives of ministries concerned about fifteen days ago in this regard at a meeting in which I was also present. The response to the presentation was quite encouraging,” he added.
The WeBOC’s single-window road map would help the regulatory bodies, ministries and other government agencies not only to issue paperless permits and certificates but it would also help them connect with each government agencies, he added.
