February 4, 2006	Saturday	Muharram 5, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: The proposed Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) is likely to be established through a presidential ordinance after stiff opposition from the parliamentarians and officers of the commerce and trade group (CTG).

Informed sources told Dawn on Friday that the government was facing difficulty in taking the proposed draft law to the parliament for making it an act because of the opposition of the EPB employees.

The draft law of the authority, a copy of which was available with Dawn, showed that the authority would enjoy all kinds of financial and administrative autonomy and the head office would be in Islamabad.

It has been proposed under the law, that no officer, employee, servant, or any other person holding any post in connection with the affairs of the EPB shall have any right or lien to appointment to any post in the authority. Any person who is appointed by the authority shall have the option either to remain a civil servant or to be an employee of the authority. The option once exercised shall be irrevocable, said the draft law.

Moreover, an employee of the authority, he shall cease to be civil servant for all purpose and shall be entitled to such remuneration, allowances and other terms and conditions of employment as are applicable to the employees of the authority.

For the service rendered in the EPB such person shall be entitled to such benefits including the transfer of benefits to the authority as may be prescribed by the rules. But, in the event of such a person opting a remain as a civil servant, he shall be surrendered to the surplus pool of the government of Pakistan and services transferred to the establishment division along with the budget approved for his employment by the federal government.

According to the proposed law, a person who is not appointed by the authority shall continue to draw his pay, allowances privileges or other benefits as he was drawing while holding the post in the EPB and unless sooner he is appointed by the federal government to another post.

With the establishment of the authority, it has been proposed that Export Market Development Fund (EMDF) shall stand abolished. No officer, employee, servant, or any other person holding any post in connection with the affairs of the EMDF shall have any right or lien to appointment to any post in the authority, proposed the law.

Any person who is appointed by the authority based on an assessment of the employees skills competencies and past performance by an independent Human Resource Consultant firm shall have the option to remain an employee of the authority and the option once exercised shall be irrevocable.

Such employees of the EMDF as found unacceptable will stand retired and provided monetary compensation based on the retirement scheme to be developed by the authority and approved by the Board, said the draft law.

Under the proposed plan, about five to seven directors general mostly from the private sector would be appointed at market based salaries. The government shall appoint one of the directors to be the chairman to be the chief executive officer of the authority and no director shall be appointed chairman for more than two consecutive terms. The directors may be appointed for a term of three years which might be re-appointing for another three years term.

The authority may, from time to time, employ persons — employees, advisers and consultants, service providers — to be employees of the authority who shall be paid such remuneration and allowances and shall hold their employment on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the authority with the approval of the board.

It has been proposed to establish the Export Development Policy Board (EDPB), which will include members from the government as well as private sector. The member of the private sectors would be appointed for a period of three years which could be extendible for another term of three years.

The federal minister of commerce shall be the chairman of the board who shall, in the event of a tie, have a casting vote. The board would exercise all powers available under this act regarding regulation of exports and imports and budget of the authority.

For performance of the function of the authority, the board would have to meet not less than two times in a calendar year. The board would also constitute its committees for expediting the policy measures.

The draft law proposed measures for penalizing a member or director general or an employee in case found guilty or violating the rules and regulation of the authority.

The authority shall be responsible for the performance of the following functions: Supervising and regulating the exporter’s registration; establishment of trade bodies primarily representing exporters interests; regulating supervising and monitoring the activities of any export relating facility set up by the authority independently or in collaboration, the working of stock brokers, sub-brokers, share transfer agents, bankers to an issue, trustees of trust deeds, registrars to an issue, underwriters, portfolio managers, investment advisers and such other intermediaries who may be associated with the securities markets in any manner; export houses, export warehouses, quality management, skill development initiatives of the authority.

The authority may proposing regulations or amendments for, but not limited to, attracting FDI in export-oriented sectors, promoting and regulating export related self-regulatory organizations.