Daily Times

Under the Transformation Plan, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is going to implement the Faceless Customs Assessment (FCA) System from 15th of December, 2024 at Karachi.

FCA is one of the key components of the FBR Transformation Plan, which was approved by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, said a news release on Saturday.

All import goods declarations field after 12.00 AM in the Appraisement Collectorates of Karachi shall be allocated to the Central Appraising Unit (CAU) for assessment. The CAU was established at South Asia Pakistan Terminal Karachi in terms of CGO No.6 of 2024 issued by FBR a few days ago.

The introduction of FCA is expected to bring a significant change in the overall culture and working of the Customs Department. It would facilitate trade by reducing the clearance time and would also improve efficiency and transparency in assessments.

After the successful completion of the first phase at Karachi, the system would soon be rolled out at the upcountry ports and border stations and the appraisement function of Customs would be relocated outside the Customs Collectorates.

All the arrangements have been finalized for the housing of appraisers and principal appraisers in a sanitized environment and 55 officers have already posted to the CAU.

To enhance productivity and ensure accountability of the customs appraising officers posted in CAU, an incentive-based performance management mechanism system has been introduced. This mechanism would reward the appraising officers who perform their duties with diligence and integrity.

The eligibility criteria and licensing regime of Customs Clearing Agents have also been revamped and a points scoring system is being introduced to make them responsible for the correct and quality declarations.

Under the point scoring system, the Customs Agents give true and honest declarations of description, value and origin. shall score more points and their profile would improve. On the contrary, the Customs agents who fail to show improvements in the declarations, would lose points and eventually their license may be cancelled.