January 23, 2025 (MLN): Faceless Customs Assessment (FCA) System has significantly improved the efficiency of customs operations, reducing Goods Declaration (GD) clearance time to an average of 18 hours from the previous 109 hours, according to Chief Collector of Customs Appraisement (South), Muhammad Jamil Nasir Khan.

During his presentation on the FCA System at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), the Chief Collector emphasized the system’s positive impact on importers, including significant reductions in demurrage charges and overall costs.

He highlighted that the FCA system eliminates the necessity for importers to visit public offices or engage in prolonged legal disputes, according to the press release.

Since its launch in mid-December, the system has maintained robust revenue collection, with Rs86 billion collected within the first 15 days of its implementation, he added.

The Chief Collector explained that the FCA system’s rapid clearance of GDs was expected to encourage other departments to expedite their operations, contributing to the overall competitiveness of Pakistan’s economy.

He said that the future includes establishing a Centralized Examination Center in Karachi, equipped with bodycams for examiners to ensure transparency and real-time monitoring.

President KCCI Muhammad Jawed Bilwani, Senior Vice President Zia ul Arfeen, Vice President Faisal Khalil Ahmed, Chairman Customs & Valuation Subcommittee Arif Lakhani, Former Presidents Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra and KCCI Managing Committee Members attended the meeting.

Financial assistance for the project is being provided by the World Bank, and an incentive-based system for appraisers will be introduced, linking their performance to the speed, quality, and quantity of GD processing, Jamil Nasir said.

He added that the system will also be expanded by establishing Customs Assessment Units (CAUs) in Lahore and Islamabad, which will be integrated with Karachi’s operations, as the city handles 80 percent of the imports.

Chief Collector acknowledged initial challenges during the first few days but credited the unwavering support of KCCI for enabling its smooth implementation.

He praised the improved processes under the FCA system, citing a 31% reduction in GDs routed through the red and yellow channels, a significant increase in green channel clearances, and a 75% drop in document calling.

The new system has also eliminated the group-based assessment structure, consolidating all 80 officials into a single controlled environment where GDs are processed in sequence to prevent favoritism.

The improved clearance process has reduced additional costs for importers, such as delays and unnecessary payments, while ensuring revenue integrity.

The Chief Collector emphasized that the FCA system is already delivering substantial benefits for industrial raw material importers and addressing issues prevalent in commercial and miscellaneous imports.

He reaffirmed his commitment to further enhancing customs operations to support Pakistan’s economic growth.

Earlier, President KCCI Muhammad Jawed Bilwani warmly welcomed Collector Customs and commended the launch of the Faceless Customs Assessment System.

He noted that the system has garnered widespread appreciation from the business community for its potential to revolutionize the customs clearance process.

“We believe that the Faceless Assessment System would also prove favorable for the exports as faster clearance of imported raw materials directly contributes to quicker production cycles, ultimately boosting exports”, he added.

He urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ensure that the system continues to operate seamlessly at full capacity in the long term as this system has the potential to expedite container traffic at ports, thereby improving Pakistan's port operations ranking on a global scale.

He further mentioned that We hope similar reforms are introduced to further optimize the clearance process, enabling consignment clearance within hours.

Such efficiency will minimize demurrage and detention losses, as seen in some of the world's fastest ports, he added.

Underscoring the need to make the faceless system completely foolproof, Jawed Bilwani suggested that success of faceless clearance system diminishes the need for dry ports across the country.

Consolidating all imported consignment clearances at the ports through the faceless system would address issues such as corruption and misdeclaration.

While highlighting Pakistan's recent achievement of the Current Account surplus, he pointed to the pressing need to address the trade deficit.

“Innovations like the FASTER system, faceless customs assessment, and other automation tools are vital for achieving a trade surplus”, he remarked.

He further noted that exporters have benefited from timely refund payments through the FASTER system introduced by the FBR.

However, delays persist due to the Ministry of Finance's release of funds.

To address this, President Bilwani proposed categorizing sectors and creating separate accounts for refund disbursements rather than retaining all refunds under the general pool.

This approach would reduce delays in releasing refunds, which continue to burden exporters.

Copyright Mettis Link News

Posted on: 2025-01-23T09:43:55+05:00