Bilal Mulla, Chairman, Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA), has urged Ramzan Bhatti, Member, Customs, Central Board of Revenue (CBR), to direct the officials of Duty Tax Remission (DTRE) to issue DTRE permission within 24 hours so that production in garment factories is not affected due to nonavailability of fabrics.

In a fax massage to Member Customs, he said that there are instances of delay in granting DTRE sanction for duty-free import of accessories to registered persons.

Bilal said that garments exporters were facing a formidable challenge in the free trade era under WTO and would not be able to compete with their rivals if they failed to meet the delivery schedule of the buyers.

In a press release he noted that the CBR has excluded fabrics from the list of duty-free import allowed to exporters under SRO 410. The change has been made through SRO 1065 issued recently.

Under the new SRO the textile exporters have been told to register themselves in the DTRE scheme for duty-free import of fabrics.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005