KARACHI, Oct 8: Minister for Commerce Humayun Akhtar Khan on Wednesday, announced extension of the SRO410, which expired on September 30, 2003. He, however, did not announce the time frame of the extension.

Under the SRO exporters are allowed to make temporary imports for exports without paying duty and sales tax but the levies are adjusted at export stage.

Briefing newsmen after the opening ceremony of “Turkish Days in Pakistan”, a four-day exhibition being held at Karachi Expo Centre, he said, this extension would be the last and there would be no further relaxation in rules.

There have been a number of reports in the press after the expiry of the period of SRO 410 in which exporters pleaded for extension of the facility as its withdrawal, they felt, had dealt a blow to their business which, they asserted, has started to slow down.

Nevertheless the minister asserted that there shall be no more extension of the SRO 410 and exporters will have to get themselves registered under Duty and Tax Remission Rules for Exports (DTRE).

He said that it seems exporters need some more time to adjust with the DTRE rules, therefore, the government has decided to give this extra time.

Exporters have been complaining that the DTRE rules are still infected with some flaws and they could not get themselves registered under these rules unless the flaws are removed.