Customs division refuses to conduct study

Wing refused to conduct a study to analyse the pros and cons of duty-free imports.

ISLAMABAD: The customs wing of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has refused to conduct a study to analyse the pros and cons of duty-free imports. It has also requested the FBR to delegate the responsibility of carrying out the study to the strategic planning and research wing of the organisation.

According to a copy of a letter written by Arshad Javed, secretary of the FBR’s customs department, a decision was taken in the eighth meeting of the Revenue Advisory Council that a proposed committee of custom collectors was to examine the benefits and disadvantages of allowing duty-free imports. This was to be done by analysing the impact on different facets of industry and the government.

However, the letter claimed that the customs department neither had the resources nor the training required to undertake such a project.

The letter also requested the FBR to delegate the task of conducting the study to either the strategic planning wing or a third party that has the resources and expertise required to conduct such a study, for example the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.

The customs wing will provide the conductors of this study with all the required data and any assistance that may be required, the letter added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2010.