KARACHI: Collector MCC Port Qasim, Surayya Ahmed Butt has issued an information alert to the entire Appraisement South region highlighting their finding that mandatory provisions of Import Policy Order are not being fulfilled pertaining to the imports of certain products.
Butt has noted that during the course of routine revenue analysis it has transpired that Pakistan Standard & Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) certificate required to be collected on certain products is not being collected at the collectorates and terminals including Appraisement East.
Import Policy Order 2013 provided that import of goods shall be subject to the same national quality standards or regulations as are prescribed in respect of similar and domestically produced goods.
However, this requirement is being overlooked in the import and clearance of goods mentioned in the Import Policy Order.
MCC Port Qasim has notified the alert for information of all collectorates so that remedial steps, if necessary, could be taken.
It was also known to Customnews.pk that PSQCA, plagued by corruption, also was not going by the book and issuing certificates for provisional release.
Sources said that it was just another door for corruption as PSQCA did not collected any samples vis-à-vis there was no laboratory testing of the imported goods to ascertain the quality standards.
PSQCA reportedly has fixed a ‘tariff’ which they receive under the table for issuing provisional quality of standard certificate, and on the basis of this certificate the importers get their consignments cleared.
PSQCA does not conduct any follow-up thereof nor any final report is issued, and the gods so cleared are consumed in the local markets There is no follow up after then and there has been no final report issued by PSQCA.
It is to this reason that local markets are flooded with sub-standard and lower quality goods including edibles and in some cases hazardous as well as ‘Haram’ products.
MCC PSQCA has confirmed that PSQCA certificate is not being collected at NLCCT in respect of black tea imports.
It is worth mentioning here that an atmosphere of inter-collectorate information sharing and coordination is prevalent at Pakistan Customs at the moment, which has made a difference in the overall performance, which can be gauged by creation of huge recoveries and noticeable decline in the cases of under-invoicing and mis-declaration.
The goods mentioned in Import Policy Order, which need to meet Pakistan standards at import stage include AC Watt hour meters, Asbestos Cement Building and Sanitary Pipes, Asbestos Cement Corrugated for roofing & cladding, Asbestos Cement pipe fitting for building and sanitary purposes, Asbestos Cement pressure pipes, Asbestos Flat Sheets, Apple Juice, Balanced Feed Mixture for Live Stock, Ballast for Tubular Fluorescent Lamp – Performance Requirements, Banaspati, Biscuits, Butter, Carbonated Beverages, Bottled Drinking Water, Cold Worked Steel Deformed Bars for the Reinforcement of Concrete, Cooking Oil (Blended), Cotton Seed Oil Cake Expeller Type, Chili Powder, Concentrated Fruit Juice, Condensed Milk, Curry Powder, Deformed & Plain Billet Steel Bars, Discharge Lamps/Compact Flourescent Lamps, Edible Sesame Seed Oil, Food for Infants and Children, Flavoured Milk, Fruit Squash, Gas Appliances, Gas Applied fired Room Heater-Vented, Gas Cooking Range, Gas Cooking Stoves, Gas Fired Radiant Room Heaters un-vented & semi-vented type, Gas Water Heaters, Honey, Iodized Salt, Jams (Fruit preserve) & Jellies, Lead Acid Batteries (for Motorcycles), Lead Acid Starter Batteries (for motorcar), Margarine, Mayonnaise, Marmalade, Milk Powder (whole and Skim), Methods for measuring the performance of electric kettles, jugs for households and similar purposes, Methods for measuring the performance of Electric Toasters for house hold and similar purposes, Mild Steel Bars, Mild Steel Oil Pressure Utility Stoves, Natural Mineral Water, Non-Pressure Oil Stoves, Oil Pressure Stoves Brass Type, Orange Juice, Palm oil (Edible grade for cooking purposes), Pickets, Polypropylene Woven Sacks for Packing (Sugar), Portland Blast Furnace Cement not Exceeding 65% blast furnace slag, Portland Cement, Poultry Feeds, PVC Insulated Cables (Non Armoured) for Electric Power & Lighting, PVC Pressure Pipes for Cold Potable Water, Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engine, Refined Coconut Oil, Refined Cotton Seed Oil, Refined Maize Corn Oil, Refined Mustard Oil, Refined Soya bean Oil, Refined Sunflower Oil, Refine Sugar & White Sugar, Safety Razor Blades (double edge), Single & Twin Blade Plastic bounded Disposable Razors, Sulphate Resisting Portland Cement, Synthetic Vinegar, Tea Black, Three Wheeler Auto Vehicles, Tubular Fluorescent Lamp, Tungsten Flaments Lamps for General Services, Induction Motors, Two Wheeler Auto Vehicles, Turmeric(Ground & Powdered) and Wafers Biscuits.