The financial security obtained against the clearance of goods under the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) would not be released unless or until it is confirmed that the transit goods have actually reached Afghanistan.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Monday that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has incorporated this provision in the new Customs Rules on the APTTA. Under the customs rules, the FBR will collect the financial security equivalent to the amount of duties and taxes applicable on the transit trade consignment. The amount of duties and taxes would be collected at Karachi. The FBR would not release the financial security till it is confirmed that the goods have reached Afghanistan. In this regard, the Afghan Goods Declaration (GD) would be cross-matched with the Pakistani GD to verify the transit of goods. Without this cross verification of GDs, the financial security would be not released by the Pakistani side.
Sources said that the FBR has decided to change the concept of cross border certificate, which is presently in practice to confirm whether a transit container has actually reached Afghanistan after crossing border. Under the new procedure, the Afghan GD would be used as a cross border certificate for verifying that the transit container has actually reached Afghanistan. Once the duty has been paid and Afghan GD has been verified, the same GD number would be mentioned on the Pakistani documents or GD.
This would be treated as the cross border certificate to ensure that the transit goods have actually reached Afghanistan. The financial security collected against the transit containers would not be released by the Pakistani customs unless or until the Afghan GD has verified by Pakistani authorities.