LAHORE: Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Chairman Sheikh Luqman Amin claimed on Wednesday that post-clearance audit system of duty drawback claims is still manual.

He said the Pakistan Customs had claimed to have moved towards automated clearance as part of the reform agenda, but simultaneously it was forcing the exporters to do more paperwork by sending notices despite the fact that all information of exporters was available in the system.

He said e-commerce automated clearance facility had proved to be very effective for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), helped them promote business, especially in the era of post-coronavirus economic slowdown.

Mr Amin said with the slogan of paperless system, the Pakistan Automated Customs Clearance System was launched as a pilot programme and moved on later to the Web Based One Customs system, but Post-clearance Audit system had not been digitised completely so far.

He said the exporters had been receiving notices over the past couple of weeks from the Directorate of Customs-Post Clearance Audit (Central), asking them to submit papers of their exports.

“No major recovery is possible by sending such notices because resources will be wasted by doing so as the rebate amount is less than one per cent,” he added.

The PRGMEA chief said the audit of such a meager amount, forcing the exporters to submit details manually, was totally a wrong practice. This practice must be stopped immediately as it was being used to harass the business community, he added.

He urged Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue Dr Mohammad Ashfaq Ahmed and the member Customs to withdraw all notices issued to the exporters.

He regretted that instead of correcting the system and making it more efficient and automated, the Customs had started sending notices manually to promote corruption.

Mr Amin said expressed the hope that the finance minister would take stock of the situation and issue necessary directions to the Customs Directorate for immediate withdrawal of notices in the larger interest of the business environment in the country.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2022