ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has urged exporters to get maximum advantage of Duty and Tax Remission for Exports (DTRE) scheme. These include, DTRE, manufacturing bond, export-oriented unit schemes as well as temporary importation scheme under SRO 492(I)/2009 of March 29, 2009. However, these are extremely underutilized as the number of exporters making use of these schemes can be counted on fingers.

According to officials, despite being applicable to all sectors these export facilitation schemes are being largely used by textile sector. The exports of a country are dependent upon the performance of its SME exporters. Out of the prevalent export facilitation schemes, the DTRE is the most convenient for the SMEs. However, it has also not been able to achieve the desired level of popularity in the country.

In order to create awareness about DTRE and to ensure that the spectrum of its users gets diversified a seminar was arranged by the office of Chief Collector of Customs (Enforcement-South), Karachi at the auditorium of Old Customs House which was attended by representatives of more than 100 exporting units.

Imtiaz Ahmad Sheikh, Collector MCC (Exports), Karachi and Engineer Habib Ahmad, Additional Collector gave a detailed presentation on the features of DTRE scheme and automation of duty drawback claims. Syed Fawad Ali Shah, Collector MCC (Exports), Port Qasim highlighted the over all exports of Pakistan with historical trends. Sanaullah Abro, Director Reforms and Automation shared details of the automation drive and future initiatives. The presentations were followed by a very interactive Q&A session.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020