KARACHI: An appellate bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) dismissed a Special Customs Reference Application filed by Pakistan Customs against one Mr Kristof W. Duwaerts, a worker at a project under Grant In Aid.
The customs challenged the concession i.e exemption from taxes, duties and others on import of a vehicle of model 2012 maintaining that it was not importable under Import Policy 2013 as it restricts import of vehicle older than three years (from the date of import).
The custom appellate tribunal also ruled in favor of the respondent importer against which the instant SCRA was filed.
The Collector of Appeals also ruled in the favor of the importer holding that the import was made under Grant in Aid Agreement concurred by the Federal Board of Revenue which allows persons working under mutual agreement between Government of Pakistan and Government of Germany are entitled to some privileges / import of article for personal use including one motor vehicle, refrigerator, electric appliances.
The SHC bench referred to the mutual agreement of technical cooperation between Pakistan and Germany signed in 1972 and its Article 7 (3) (a) dealing with the privileged imports for personal use.
The importer works with world renowned “Hanns Seidel Foundation”.
The bench held that Mr Duwaerts was competent to import the vehicle without any payment of duty and taxes.
The bench answered both questions of law framed against the applicant department and in favor of respondent foreign expert.