LAHORE, July 27: All import duties will remain in place in Pakistan after the World Trade Organisation regime next year and only the textile quotas will be abolished.

National Tariff Commission expert Mazhar Bangash stated this while speaking on "Subsidies and countervailing measures" and answering questions during a panel discussion with Mian Nauman Kabir and M. Akbar Sheikh at the one-day workshop on 'Trade remedial measures under WTO and implications for Pakistan' organized by the Punjab Planning and Development Department at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Tuesday.

He said Pakistan had the bound customs tariff rate of 100 per cent but had reduced the applied rate to 10 per cent. It would thus be able to safeguard the interests of its industry by fluctuating its tariff rates in-between after the WTO regime has come in place.

He said Pakistan could maintain its negative list for imports from India under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) and sensitive list under the WTO till it had given it the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status. He said Pakistan was also among the 20 developing countries which had been allowed to give export subsidies on goods other than agricultural products.

Mr Bangash said the National Tariff Commission had to spend Rs0.5 million to Rs1 million on investigations of a complaint against dumping but received a fee of only Rs75,000 with the application from the industries affected by it.

It could impose preliminary duty on the dumped goods after preliminary investigations of 45 days which was refundable in the event of having been found excessive.

The NTC expert said the government had promulgated the Countervailing Duties Ordinance 2001 for imposing duties on imports from a particular country for the protection of the national industry on account of unfair trade practices of foreign exporters. He said all subsidies were actionable in the event of affecting the industry of the importing country.

He said the National Tariff Commission had received only five anti-dumping complaints till date. Three complaints had been decided. He said that social compliance and environmental issues were not on the WTO agenda so far.

Export Promotion Bureau Director Asif Ghafoor said that the WTO regime permitted the importing countries to adopt safeguard measures in the form of imposition of higher duties or quantitative restrictions for preventing setbacks to their domestic industry.

Provisional safeguard measures could be adopted for 200 days and regular for four years to eight years. Such measures were, however, required to be temporary and applicable on non-selective basis.

He said most of the countries preferred anti-dumping action as a safeguard measure as it did not require payment of compensation required in the event of adoption of safeguard measures in case of having been proved wrong.

Mr Ghafoor said safeguard measures could not be applied in case the volume of goods in question was less than three per cent of total imports. Planning and Development Department Board Member Rafia Nazir said the provincial government had formed a WTO advisory body in her department and was organizing seminars and workshops for preparing the industrialists for facing the WTO challenges.

She said the industrialists should upgrade their technology and improve the quality of their products for competing in the globalized market of the future. Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mian Anjum Nisar said in his address of welcome that the chamber had not only constituted a standing committee on the WTO but also published a comprehensive guide on it.

He said that conclusion of Multi Fibre Agreement next year would offer unprecedented opportunities for the textile industry of Pakistan. But the industry would also have to remain on guard against turning of our country into a dumping ground for cheap and sub-standard goods.