Daily Times

KHYBER AGENCY: Clearing of goods at Torkham Customs Station was suspended for a short interval on Tuesday after the Torkham Customs Clearing Agents Association refused to get goods cleared under the Web Based One Customs (WeBOC) system.

The association was of the view that prior to implementation of the latest clearing process, the department must have facilitated clearing agents with all necessary equipment.

Torkham Customs Clearing Agents Association President Haji Hayatullah Shinwari said that although it (WeBOC) was a modern clearing system, the Customs should meet all facilities needed for the process.

“The WeBOC system is mainly online but ironically the Torkham Customs Station is lacking all basic needs, including electricity and other allied equipment,” he said and added that the association would have accepted the new online clearing system had all required facilities been provided to them.

He claimed that the department chose Torkham Customs Station to install WeBOC system and had not introduced the new clearing process at other stations, including those in Chaman, Taftan and Kharlachi.

When contacted, Torkham Customs Station Deputy Collector (DC) Najeeb Arjumand said that the WeBOC was a modern system that was implemented only on tax exemptions and concessions on imports at the time of filing of goods declarations.

“In WeBOC, clearing process is done online, which makes the role of the clearing agent negligible,” he said, adding that training on the use of WeBOC would be provided to customs clearing community as well as importers.

The clearing process remained discontinued for four hours that resulted in long queues of trucks standing on both sides of the border loaded with different commodities.

However, after successful dialogue between the association and the administration officials, clearing agents called off their boycott and resumed clearing activities at the border under an old clearing system.

Published in Daily Times, September 27^th 2017.