December 12, 2001	Wednesday	Ramazan 26, 1422

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: The Central Board of Revenue has extended an incentive package offered to investors in the Special Industrial Zones (SIZs) till December 31, 2002.

The package included exemption from 25 per cent customs duty leviable on import of raw materials for manufacturing of goods, duty free imports of machinery, which were not locally produced by such industries and commercial operation was commenced up to December 31, 2002, an official source told Dawn here on Tuesday.

The package was, however, available to investors till June 30, 1999 in SIZ, which after due date lapsed.

The decision was taken to provide maximum incentives to those investors, who had suffered due to discontinuity in the SIZ facilities after June 30, 1999, the source added.

CBR made amendments in its notification No SRO71(I)/96 dated 19th January by another notification issued here on Tuesday.

The amended notification will not affect or in any way prejudice the industrial units whose cases were sub judice and the federal government will decide such cases in accordance with verdict of the apex court.

The package will not be available to such industries- Arms and ammunition; Security printing, currency and mint; high explosive, radioactive substances; alcohol, except industrial alcohol; cotton ginning; spinning, except for parts of integrated textile unit; sugar (white) manufacturing; flour milling; steel re-rolling and furnace; tobacco industry; ghee or vegetable oil industry; plastic bags including polypropylene and polyethylene; beverage excluding fruit juices; polyester industry; automobile assembly and cement industry.

Moreover, all such industries, excluding those mentioned above, which were not already existing till the date of this notification in Pakistan and were set up in Special Industrial Zones shall be exempt, for a period of ten years, from whole of customs-duty and sales tax on import of raw materials, which were not produced locally provided the letters of credit for their plant and machinery were opened upto the 31st January, 1996, and commercial operations were commenced upto the December 31, 2002, subject to the conditions laid down in notification No SRO71(I)95 dated 19th January, 1995.

The notification reads as “the federal government is pleased to direct that the following further amendments shall be made in its notification No SRO 71(I)/95. In the aforesaid notification, in the clauses (a) and (b) for the figure, words and comma “30th June 1999”, the figure, word and comma “31 December, 2002” shall be substituted. Nothing in this notification shall affect or in any way prejudice the industrial units whose cases are sub judice and the federal government shall decide such cases in accordance with verdict of the apex court”.