KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has divided the functions of Pakistan Customs into four regions to resolve problems faced by taxpayers and enable authorities to focus on policy development and formulation.
According to a notification issued on Tuesday, the FBR amended the Customs General Order No. 15 of October 10, 2007 under which two regions were operational.
With the CGO No. 14 of September 7, 2012, the country has been divided into four regions, including: north, central, appraisement and enforcement.
The notification stated that the north region will consist of Model Customs Collectorate (MCC), Peshawar; MCC Islamabad; MCC Sambrial (Sialkot); and MCC Gilgit-Baltistan. The central region will include: MCC (Appraisement), Lahore; MCC (Preventive) Lahore; MCC Faisalabad; and MCC Multan. MCC PaCCs, MCC Appraisement and MCC Port Qasim in Karachi would fall under Appraisement Region. Meanwhile, the enforcement region will include: MCC Preventive Karachi, MCC Export Karachi, MCC Hyderabad, MCC Quetta, and MCC Gwadar.
The notification said that the four regions would be headed by chief collector of customs. The notification stated that the reason for the appointment of chief collectors was to provide senior level operational heads in the field so that day to day operational issues faced by the collectorates and the public are addressed and resolved expeditiously, enabling the FBR to concentrate on policy development and formulation.