FCA slashes Customs clearance time

The Faceless Customs Assessment (FCA) system, launched by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on December 15, has processed and cleared over 5,500 goods declarations (GDs) by December 23.

The FBR launched this system on the 15th of this month. The system is fully operational and the start is very promising. All GDs filed in the four Appraisement Collectorates of Karachi are being assessed in the central appraising unit (CAU) established at SAPT, Jamil Nasir, Chief Collector of Appraisement, said at a media talk at the terminal.

Trade facilitation is increasing and clearance time is decreasing with each passing day. According to a preliminary analysis, on average, dwell time has decreased from five days to three days and it would further decrease in coming days and weeks.

Unnecessary documentation and examination has been reduced drastically compared to the pre-FCA period. In the past, on average, in 25-30% of GDs, documents were called for completing assessments. Under the FCA, only 370 GDs and documents were called against 2,000 in the week prior to the launch of the FCA system.

Similarly, before the introduction of FCA, on average, over 5% of consignments, allocated to the Yellow Channel by the Risk Management System (RMS), were referred to physical examination for finalising assessments. The number of such referrals is now just 1%.

"This trend is quite encouraging and shows that the intended objectives of the new system are being achieved," he said. During the current month till December 23, the Collectorates of Appraisement South have collected Rs61.2 billion in customs duty against Rs46.6 billion during last year in the same period.