Kuwait-based Agility would say farewell to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) by finally shutting down Pakistan Automated Customs Computerised System (PaCCS) to end its over five year old uneasy association with the revenue body.
As a prelude, it seems, Agility had shut down the system on Monday (July 25) at the three international trade terminals but had resumed the services after 19 hours of suspension on the plea of chairman, FBR and PaCCS users club, a highly placed source in Agility told Business Recorder here on Thursday.
While resuming the services, Agility had told FBR "enough is enough" and had given a notice of permanent shutdown from Friday (today) if FBR failed to meet its commitment of purchasing the system. As time is running out FBR has to take a decision on immediate basis or face a drastic decline in customs revenue. If no decision is taken by FBR by 5pm on Friday, the system will be off at 12 midnight.
The time lock has thus started for FBR to either choose PaCCS for country's revenue growth or move backwards to the Stone Age when the goods clearance was done manually. Trade bodies have urged FBR to honour its commitment and sign the agreement with Agility within specified date. The revenue body has paid monthly service dues of $1.3 million to the company since April this year.
Needless to mention that the recent PaCCS shutdown had caused blockage of over 10,000 consignments of goods on terminals for hours resulting in a loss of over Rs one billion to the national exchequer. Trade bodies and PaCCS Users Club are emphasising on the resolution of the issue so that the system could be expanded to other terminals across the country. Presently three different types of systems, ie PaCCS, WEBOC and One Customs are installed on the terminals unnecessarily. There should be only one fully automated system to cater to the growing needs of customs in the country.
Pakistan Automated Customs Computerised System was introduced in 2005 for speedy clearance of import and export procedures. It is operational at three international trade terminals and alone collects customs duty to the tune of approximately Rs 300 million daily.
Technically speaking, PaCCS is an electronic environment in which no documents are required to be filed to customs with the declaration. This is in order to ensure that the trade is not forced to travel to custom house to file each declaration and tax payer is not forced to come in contact with the tax collector. The system does not examine consignments unless the cargo is suspected to present a threat to the country or its exchequer. It is only in case of risky cargo that containers are opened, documents retrieved and cargo examined. Documents are retained by customs for record.
The expansion of PaCCS from one terminal to other two terminals of Karachi port in 2006 speaks of the efficiency of the system. High officials in government institutions, former chairman, FBR, technical experts, traders, representatives of trade unions have all appreciated the significance of PaCCS in boosting trade revenues, eliminating corruption and being transparent.
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