Govt hasn’t suffered major revenue loss due to tariff rationalisation: NTC

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson National Tariff Commission (NTC) Robina Ather on Thursday informed the Senate Standing Committee on Finance that the government has not suffered any major revenue loss on account of tariff rationalisation done in the federal budget (2022-23) to facilitate domestic industries and sectors.

Responding to a question of Chairman of the Committee Senator Saleem Mandviwala, the chairperson NTC informed the committee that the FBR and the NTC have no differences on customs tariff lines of the Pakistan Customs Tariff (PCT) during the budget finalisation exercise.

The FBR has no objections to the NTC’s tariff rationalisation done for the new fiscal year.

Ather further stated that there is no significant revenue impact on the government as a result of tariff rationalisation. In some areas, the government has imposed regulatory duties, but the amount has been compensated through other relief measures. The NTC has followed the policy to reduce the average rate of tariff on raw materials and inputs to facilitate the domestic manufacturers and downstream industries.

She said that the anomalies in the customs tariff have been referred to the FBR’s Anomaly Committee.

The chairperson NTC added that the customs duties have been decreased on the import of packaging materials, dyes and combined harvesters.

Secretary Finance Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh said that there is no change in the rates of customs duty due to the updated Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HS).

The FBR Member Customs (Policy) informed that the World Customs Organisation (WCO) updates its Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) after every five years to accommodate modern developments and changing trade patterns. The last HS version was updated in 2017. The current amendments to the HS nomenclature have entered into force since 1st January 2022.

Pakistan being a signatory to the HS Convention has obligation to adopt the HS 2022 version. Since, these amendments are required to be incorporated in the First Schedule to the Customs Act, 1969 (Pakistan Customs Tariff), therefore, Pakistan adopted the same by incorporating all of its latest amendments introduced in earlier nomenclature/HS codes in Pakistan Customs Tariff by the process of addition/ deletion and creation of local PCT codes, accordingly.

It will be effective from 1st of July 2022.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022