ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday announced that the shipments of food products in the pipeline will be cleared without the requirements of labelling in Urdu.

This order came in the wake of demands from many importers who were facing problems in getting their shipments cleared after issuance of SRO237 on Feb 19 making it mandatory for food products to have halal certification and labelling in Urdu.

The ministry said under paragraph 4 of the Import Policy Order (IPO) 2016 “...an amending order/SRO will not operate against the imports where bill of lading or letter of credit is issued before the issuance of such an order/SRO.”

In view of this, the ministry directed the Customs authorities to facilitate the clearance of shipments which qualify under the existing import policy order.

However, all imports will be subject to new regulations as prescribed under the SRO237, it added.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2019