Skip to main content

China to help FBR reduce misdeclarations

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China have decided to enter into an agreement to control misdeclaration at the country’s ports as the menace has been causing massive revenue losses and hurting foreign investment.

The decision comes at a time when the government is taking measures to control corruption within the customs department systematically.

“We have authorised Pakistan’s ambassador to China Naghmana Hashmi to sign the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU),” said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi on Monday.

The draft for the MoU was prepared by China’s State Administration of Taxes to enable tax authorities from both Islamabad and Beijing to share data and learn from each other’s best practices.

China has come a long way in controlling misdeclaration at ports. According to some estimates, at one stage, total misdeclaration at Chinese ports had reached $7-8 billion per annum however that number has decreased significantly over the years.

Both Pakistani and Chinese customs authorities have yet to agree on the variations of their reported figures.

The misdeclarations are usually of three kinds: value of goods, description (Pakistan Customs Tariff heading) and weight. It can also occur by availing wrong exemptions.

The FBR chairman told Dawn that under the proposed agreement, China will provide on the spot information regarding exports to Pakistan. “This cooperation on government to government level will help control 1misdeclaration,” Zaidi hoped.

The local markets are flooded with misdeclared imported goods. An internal review of the customs department has identified a wide margin of misdeclaration in value and quantity of imported goods from China, a senior customs officer told Dawn.

“Entry of goods into the markets without passing through proper channels is not possible without the connivance of customs officers”, he said while adding that the data has been shared with the Chinese authorities for reconciliation.

“We will tackle this menace through automation”, the chairman said, adding that these illegal goods are now being sold in every market across the country.

China is sharing data with Pakistan in a very limited way on products covered under the free trade agreement on quarterly basis. “We need this sharing of data on the spot to control the misdeclaration”, the chairman said.

The FBR had initiated action against misdeclaration after data from Web-Based One Customs System Glo (WeBOC-Glo) was analysed.

The data showed around 62 per cent of the total 69,000 goods declarations showed differences in assessed value and declared value of goods. On the other hand, around 21pc of the misdeclarations were made in weight and quantity.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2019



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2YdiW5f
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says he urged team to ‘slow’ COVID-19 testing

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, arguing that increased tests lead to more cases being discovered. The president has claimed falsely on several occasions that surges of COVID-19 in several states can be explained by greater numbers of diagnostic tests. At his first rally since the outbreak forced nationwide shutdowns in March, Trump told the crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma that testing was a “double-edged sword.” The United States — which has more deaths and cases than any other country — has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita. “Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Trump argued. “So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.” It was not clear from Trump’s tone if he was playing to the crowd, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more

IT ministry forms panel to review social media rules

ISLAMABAD: While uproar against the new rules to regulate social media continues from various segments of society, including parliamentarians, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and civil society, the information technology ministry on Friday formed a committee to review the rules. The federal cabinet approved the rules on Feb 11, but later after opposition from various quarters, including companies that manage different social media platforms, the prime minister announced that a fresh consultation process would be launched over the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020. The committee formed by the IT ministry is headed by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa while its members are Eazaz Aslam Dar, additional secretary of IT; Tania Aidrus, member of the Strategic Reforms Imple­mentation Unit, Prime Minister Office; and Dr Arslan Khalid, focal person on digital media at the PM Office. Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

IS confirms Baghdadi’s death, vows revenge

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.—AP BEIRUT: The Islamic State militant group confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a statement on Thursday and named his replacement as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi. “We mourn you ... commander of the faithful,” said Abu Hamza al-Quraishi — presented as the group’s new spokesman — in an audio statement. Baghdadi, who led IS since 2014 and was the world’s most wanted man, was killed in a US special forces raid in Syria’s province of Idlib on Sunday. The group also confirmed the killing in another raid the following day of the group’s previous spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir. The statement said the group’s legislative and consultative body convened after the 48-year-old Iraqi-born jihadist chief’s death. “The Islamic State shura council convened immediately after confirming the martyrdom of Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the elders of the holy warriors agreed” on a replacement, said the seven-minute message. Little is known abou...
Post a Comment
Read more