ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: The government is set to change the existing procedure of the payment of duty drawback to exporters as a part of the customs administration reform plan.

Under the present system, an average 150,000 duty drawback claims were sanctioned each year, which were creating unmanageable paperwork for the tax authorities. Of the total claims, around 6,000 claim files were lost each year.

According to the proposed customs reform plan report, to overcome this problem it was proposed that the rebate claims would be automatically processed and the exporters would not follow their duty drawback claims in the customs houses. This would not only help in saving the time but also save energy of the exporters.

Under the proposed system, there will be no cause of time bar of duty drawback claims as well as mishandling of files and documents.

It was recommended that expenses and interaction with more than one clearing agents would be eliminated.

There will be only one clearing agent responsible for export shipments and duty drawback.

Presently, four rebate groups with four assistant collectors, senior principle appraisers, 14 appraising officers and 12 L/UDCs were working for payment of duty drawback along with an account section. However, under new system, they will be no more required.

It was also proposed that all the exporters whether industrial or commercial would be treated at par and the duplication of documents will be done away with in the revamped customs department.

It was observed that all the officer assistants, deputy collector, additional collector and collector were busy in the scrutiny of 150,000 duty drawback claims annually.

This problem would be overcome through allowing the payment of duty drawback to exporters through schedule banks.

With this coming in force, all senior officers, additional collector and collector would have enough time to concentrate on policy making and other major issues, claimed the report.