close
Tuesday March 19, 2024

Clearance of diplomatic cargos linked with exemption certificate

By Our Correspondent
October 20, 2018

KARACHI: Pakistan Customs linked clearance of diplomatic consignments with original copy of tax exemption certificates to check misuse of the facility exclusive to foreign embassies, people with knowledge said on Friday.

Sources said customs authorities tightened monitoring of diplomatic cargos to prevent misuse of exemption and concessions granted to imported consignments under Vienna Convention.

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 guarantees privilege to diplomatic cargoes, which also enjoy exemptions and concessions from the government.

“But incidents of misusing the concessions has prompted the authorities to further tighten the inspections of diplomatic consignments,” an official at Pakistan Customs said.

The sources said customs authorities decided to make the original copy of diplomatic exemption certificate issued by the ministry of foreign affairs mandatory at the time of customs clearance.

It is further decided that a customs station issues no-objection certificate regarding duplicate copy of the diplomatic exemption certificate issued by the ministry of foreign affairs. The official said bulk of motor vehicles were recently impounded in the city as they were cleared under concessions granted to diplomats.

Therefore, it was decided that terminal operator would ask the importer/clearing agent to produce collectorate’s no objection certificate for the release of such goods.

The official said the clearance of diplomatic consignments is done through green channel facility.

“Under this facility the consulates in Pakistan clear their consignments by uploading required documents in the online customs clearance system,” the official said. “Under the system there is no human interference to check the consignments.”

In the past there were incidents of clearance of diplomatic consignments on fake exemption certificates.

A couple of years back, the Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) of the Pakistan Customs foiled an attempt to smuggle contraband liquor into the country in the garb of a diplomatic consignment. The consignment had been imported in the name of the embassy of a friendly country.

A Collector MCC at that time received a tip-off that some smugglers would attempt to illegally import liquor into the country and clear the same under the garb of a diplomatic consignment by misusing the name of an embassy. Following the tip, a team was constituted to start monitoring of all cargo imported from Dubai and eventually a suspected container was detected.

The team collected necessary information from the relevant quarters and also confirmed the non-diplomatic status of the cargo from the Protocol Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The container was then put on hold and was thoroughly examined. Over 4,848 litres of foreign whisky of different brands was found. The contraband goods were seized immediately under the provisions of the Customs Act 1969. The seized liquor has a value of Rs15 million in the local market.