Importers warned of legal action

KARACHI: Pakistan Customs on Wednesday said it will take legal action against the tea importers who didn’t file complete declaration of their consignments at the time of clearance.

Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Appraisement East, in a notification, said the consignments would not be cleared unless importers provide certified copy of approval issued by the Pakistan Tea Association.

Sources in Pakistan Customs said the decision was taken to prevent tea smuggling and mis-declaration.

The collectorate also warned the importers of plastic raw material, iron and steel products of similar action. 

It said some importers/clearing agents are not providing true values of their goods and the declared values are found lower than the actual values in line with the international price bulletins.

The MCC said the customs clearance system is based on self-assessment and consignments cleared in green channel at incorrect declared value cause losses to national exchequer.

“Such mis-declaration/incomplete declaration also cause inconvenience to importers when detected at post clearance stage, as the short payment would be recovered with penal surcharge and penalty,” it added.