Customs reforms unsuccessful

The customs administration reforms of the Federal Board of Revenue have ended in failure.

ISLAMABAD: The customs administration reforms of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have ended in failure. The project will now be a part of the Tax Administration Reform Project II (TARP II).

A delegation of the World Bank (WB) will arrive in Pakistan on September 14 for a 15-day visit to reassess customs reforms as part of the larger current Tax Administration Reform Project (Tarp).

Under a public-private partnership programme, measures to facilitate the speedy clearance of imported consignments were introduced by the FBR. However, these measures proved to be unsuccessful.

The WB team will examine the performance of both, customs reforms and Tarp, before presenting its proposals for Tarp II. As a part of the assessment, the WB will review the recently introduced expedited import clearance system and will seek an evaluation of the custom department’s performance. It will also receive suggestions for improvement of the department.

The delegation plans to visit the ministry of finance and seek an update on the performance of the progress of Tarp.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2010.