ISLAMABAD: The Commerce Ministry has sought condonation of a few days delay of shipment of vehicles imported by Overseas Pakistanis, official sources told Business Recorder.
Sharing the details, sources said, that in terms of Paragraph-16 of the Import Policy Order (IPO), 2020, Overseas Pakistanis are allowed to import up to three (3) years old/used cars and up to five (5) years old/used vehicles, under personal baggage, transfer of residence or gift scheme, in accordance with the eligibility criteria, conditions and procedures as laid down in Appendix-E of the IPO, 2020.
Certain Overseas Pakistanis have approached the Ministry of Commerce through their authorized customs clearing agents for grant of one-time condonation of delay of shipment in favor of their imported cars of 2017 model. They have imported these cars under the personal baggage scheme. In the first case the Bill of Lading (B/L) was issued on January 2, 2021 and in second case the B/L was issued on January 3, 2021, making the cars over-aged by 2 and 3 days, respectively. Hence, they are pending customs clearance at Karachi port. The Commerce Ministry says that this over-aging is caused by late departure of ships due to Covid-19 restrictions at the ports of origin, while the ships were originally due to sail in December, 2020. To substantiate their claim they had handed over cars to shipping lines well before time, and have submitted certain supporting documents along-with their applications.
As per Explanation given under Para-3(2) of Appendix-E of the IPO, 2020 "age" of a vehicle/car shall be determined from the 15 January of the year subsequent to the year of manufacture till the date of shipment as per Bill of Lading (B/L). As such, a car of 2017 model (manufactured in 2017) could have been legally imported if its B/L was issued on or before 31 December, 2020. The cars in question had their House B/Ls issued in December, 2020 while their Master B/Ls were issued on 2nd and 3rd January 2021 due to COVID-19 situation, making them over-age by 2/3 days.
The sources said, when the cases were referred to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for examination and views/comments thereto, the FBR supported the plea that schedules of voyages of vessels all over the world have been affected badly due to prevailing Covid-19 situation. Hence, the Board supported the proposal for grant of condonation of delay of shipments by few days.
Some cases were received subsequently, and based on the same grounds, ie, shipments were delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions, these are also included in the summary.
After explaining the cases, Commerce Ministry has proposed that the cars/vehicles, which are overage by 2/3 days for the purposes of importation into Pakistan and are pending customs clearance at Pakistani ports, may be allowed import clearance if they had confirmed B/Ls up to 3rd day of January, 2021, subject to compliance with all other conditions of import.
In terms of Paragraph-20 of the IPO 2020, the federal government, ie, the Federal Cabinet is empowered to allow import in condonation of prohibitions and restrictions as contained in the IPO, 2020.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021