Pakistan has announced further tariff concessions on the imports of 1,235 items Pak-China and 128 goods Pak-Malaysia under Early Harvest Program (EHP); 602 items from Sri Lanka; 475 items from Iran under Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and fourth phase of tariff reduction on the import of 4,987 items under South Asia Free Trade Area (Safta).
The Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO).504(I)/2007 would deal with tariff exemption under Safta; SRO.502(I)/2007, Pak-China, EHP,; SRO.503(I)/2007, Pak-Malaysia, EHP; SRO.508(I)/2007, Sri Lanka; and SRO.501(I)/2007 would cover the tariff reductions under the Pak-Iran (PTA).
The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has recently issued notifications on the new phase of tariff reductions under the bilateral and regional trade agreements, which would be applicable from June 10, 2007.
Under the Pak-China Early Harvest Program, the CBR has notified phase-wise duty reductions from January 1, 2006; January 1, 2007 and January 1, 2008 on the import of items specified in Table-I of the notification. However, 100 percent tariff concession is applicable on the import of certain items from China under Table II of the SRO.502(I)/2007. The items imported under this program would be merged into Pak-China FTA on July 1, 2007.
In case of Pak-Malaysia Early Harvest Program, the CBR has notified 5 percent customs duty and zero percent duty on the import of 128 items from Malaysia. For example, zero-percent duty would be applicable on the import of smoked sheets; Technically Specified Natural Rubber (TSNR); Latex; bakery machinery and machinery for the manufacture of macaroni, spaghetti or similar products; machinery for the preparation of fruits, nuts or vegetables; other machinery and other items liable to zero percent duty under SRO.503(I)/2007.
Under SRO.501(I)/2007, second phase of tariff concessions has been notified on the import of around 475 items from Iran under the PTA. The duty concession on the import from Iran would be different for different categories of items ranging between 10 to 100 percent.
The duty concessions on the imports from Sri Lanka has been notified through amendment SRO. 570(I)2005. In the new phase of tariff reduction under Safta, Pakistan has further slashed customs duty on the import of items from Least Developed Countries (LDCs), including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives and Non-Least Developed Countries (Non-LDCs), covering India and Sri Lanka. However, no concession would be applicable on the import of items with 5 percent customs duty or below, under Safta.
The government would ultimately bring down rate of customs duty up to 5 percent phase-wise on the import of 4,987 tariff lines within three years. This fourth tariff reduction would be available to India on 1,073 items, as imports from India are being governed under positive list issued by Pakistan. Pakistan would not allow any tariff reduction on import of items specified in the ''''sensitive list'''' to provide tariff protection to the local industry.