KARACHI, Aug 17: Central Board of Revenue Chairman Muhammad Abdullah Yusuf has said that Customs Administrative Reforms (CARe) will be enforced in December this year under which 80 to 90 per cent of imports will be cleared before the arrival of a ship.

Speaking at the annual dinner of the Karachi Customs Agents Group (KCAG) here on Monday, the CBR chairman said that 85 countries of the world were presently using advanced system of clearance and if Pakistan did not adopt such a system it would be left behind and would not be able to meet the WTO challenges.

KCAG President Sultan Mahmood drew the attention of the CBR chairman towards the problems being faced by the customs agents at the customs service centre where the computer takes two days to process clearance documents.

Mr Yusuf agreeing with the complaints said that as a matter of fact the computer at the customers' centre was outdated and there had been no real automation as was claimed.

However, he assured the KCAG that necessary measures were being taken to put in place computers and automation system, which could meet the requirements of the customers' centre. "A new computer system at a cost of Rs50 million will be installed in near future," he added.

The CBR chief said that the duty of the government was to ensure business-friendly environment and reduce cost of doing business, but if 15 days were required to clear goods from the port and customs then no one could do business.

He cautioned: "If we do not change our attitude and start taking things seriously as a nation we will be left behind because so far we have been handling things with our own style, but we have to do away with it as real competition in free world trade leaves no margin of error or wastage of time."

Mr Yusuf said the business community had done its job by making necessary investment and inducting new technologies in their production system. "Now it was the duty of the government to facilitate their operation so that they could compete in the world market."

Responding to the problem of refund raised by KCCI President Siraj Kassam Teli, the CBR chairman pointed out that the organization was taking steps to reduce huge quantum of refund. (Rs52 billion was paid last year).

He further said that a revised Duty and Tax Remission Rules for Export (DTRE) would be launched shortly to allow no-duty no-drawback (NDND) transactions to the business community.

He further said that majority of the refund went to about 200 big players....if they came in the DTRE net the problem would be greatly reduced. The system is being upgraded for quick verification of invoices submitted for refund claims.

With regard to the problem of valuation and adjudication of cases that are initially decided in favour of customs but rejected by the tribunal, the CBR chief appealed to the business community to make the experiment of dispute resolution committees successful that would ensure a fair and speed out-of-the-court settlements of all disputes.

In reply to a question, Mr Yusuf said the CGO did apply to the import of new cars. It applied only to the import of second-hand cars under gift and baggage schemes, he said and added that talks were under way with car dealers to resolve the issue amicably.