ISLAMABAD, Aug 9: The government has delayed the implementation of revised Duty and Taxes Remission for Export (DTRE) rules 2001 despite the repeated demand of exporters aimed at facilitating the trade.

Well-placed sources told Dawn that the government was yet to finalize the DTRE rules for its final implementation.

The decision to revise the DTRE rules was taken following the difficulties faced by the manufacturers working under the scheme. And the government has assured the exporters much ahead the budget that the revised scheme will be implemented from the budget 2002-03 in consultation with all stakeholders.

Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood had announced in the trade policy 2002-03 that the DTRE rules were being revised to make them more user-friendly.

The sources said that the exporters were asking the government to allow them to import all types of goods and raw materials under the DTRE rules to boost their trade.

According to the sources, the government was reportedly not willing to allow the import of certain goods like polyester staple fibre (PSF) under DTRE on the plea that same was supplied by a multinational company to the local exporters.

The exporters, however, were of the opinion that they could import the same PSF comparatively at cheaper price then the local one, the sources said. According to them, as long as the issue was not resolved it seemed difficult for the government to implement the DTRE rules.

With a workable DTRE regime, it is believed that the problem of delayed refunds would be minimized. The sources said that friendly remission rules would help the exporters as their refunds would not be tied up in duty, excise and sales tax elements of their input goods.

According to the sources, the commerce ministry was also considering a proposal to allow duty drawback and sales tax refunds on domestically procured tax-paid inputs in sectors where there was an unavoidable reliance on substantial domestic procurement.