The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association recently expressed worry regarding mounting expenses and delays caused by the Faceless Customs Assessment system in Karachi, asking the Federal Board of Revenue to keep the Central Appraising Unit stationed locally and pause updates until an independent audit occurs.
In communication addressed to FBR Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial, APTMA leader Asad Shafi stated that businesses importing goods still encounter clearance bottlenecks, sudden value hikes, tariff disagreements, frequent inspections, and lab tests even though the system has operated for almost twenty-one months.
Such difficulties created heavy demurrage fees, tied up operating funds, and halted manufacturing destined for export markets.
APTMA pointed to conclusions drawn by an internal FBR panel, indicating that mean processing duration climbed from 25.6 hours up to 40.2 hours, whereas approvals finalized within 48 hours dropped from 84 percent down to 70 percent.
Extra money collected during evaluation dropped from 16 percent to 13 percent, grievance filings grew from 6 percent to 14 percent, escalations to top officials climbed from 6 percent to 11 percent, and testing dispatches nearly doubled. The committee apparently noted zero gains regarding evaluation standards and suggested halting expansion until evaluated further.
The group noted that participants deal with setbacks across evaluation, appeal, inspection, and testing phases, unsupported dismissals of stated pricing, stale pricing decrees, and mixed categorization. They also highlighted missing textile, chemical, and equipment specialists, redundant inquiries, weak teamwork between testing and evaluation personnel, alongside system outages halting Export Finance Scheme shipments.
APTMA cautioned that shifting the Central Appraising Unit to Islamabad might aggravate these difficulties, because Karachi processes the majority of maritime cargo and hosts inspection sites, labs, depots, and experts close to docks.
The organization stated that transferring operations might cause departures of skilled evaluators, poorer communication, extra expenses, and halted processing tasks. They mentioned that digital evaluation could continue via random digital routing without shifting offices physically.
The association demanded that the FBR maintain the appraising unit in Karachi and freeze upcoming system expansions or major modifications until an unbiased audit and business consultations take place. They additionally demanded a backlog removal unit, priority handling for export cargo, strict evaluation schedules, automatic delay notices, reinstated expert desks, refreshed pricing rules, better lab coordination, and monthly performance reports.
APTMA additionally suggested a permanent evaluation group featuring the FBR, APTMA, Pakistan Business Council, FPCCI, KCCI, OICCI, and customs agent groups to track progress and solve persistent problems.
The group noted backing for the FBR objective of clear, fast, and equitable customs procedures while requesting a prompt gathering with board heads to address workable fixes.
