Both the National Assembly''s Standing Committee on Finance and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) expressed serious concerns over the ECC decision and the former recommended that Commerce Ministry should not issue any notification prior to finalisation of a study being conducted by the National Tariff Commission (NTC) and the Competition Commission of Pakistan.
A sub committee of the ECC had evolved a consensus that age of imported used cars should be linked to a reduction in prices of locally assembled cars between Rs 50,000 and Rs 100,000. However, talks between the Ministry of Industries and car assemblers did not succeed. The Commerce Ministry''s team was led by Secretary Industries Shahfqat Naghmi and his brother-in-law, who is the CEO of EDB.
However, the Commerce Ministry did not pay heed to the recommendations of the Standing Committee and issued an SRO on December 12, which stipulates that "in exercise of powers offered by sub section (1) of section 3 of the Imports and Exports( Control) Act, 1950(XXXIX) of 1950), the Federal Government is pleased to direct that the following further amendment shall be made in the Import Policy Order 2009, namely:- in the aforesaid Order, in appendix -E, in paragraph 3, in sub- paragraph(1), for the full stop, at the end, a colon shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be added namely:- "provided that the cars older than three years shall not be allowed to be imported under gift, personal baggage and transfer of residence schemes".
The Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Planning & Development, in its recommendations strongly recommended that Ministry of Commerce may not issue SRO about the policy for import of cars/ vehicles from 5 to 3 years before the finalisation of reports of Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and National Tariff Commission (NTC), in the better interest of public of Pakistan.
The committee recommended to furnish details about cost of vehicles, tariff and sales made by 3 automobile companies of Pakistan, ie Honda Atlas, Toyota Indus Motor and Suzuki, for last 15 years. Details in this regard should be furnished to the Secretariat within 7 days.
The committee also recommended providing details and comparison of tariff/ tax duties paid by 3 Automobiles companies ie Honda Atlas, Toyota Indus Motor, Suzuki and other private importers for last 10 years regarding import of spare parts and raw materials. Details in this regard may kindly be furnished to this Secretariat within 7 days.
The committee was also of the view that the Commerce Ministry should formulate a comprehensive policy on benefits/ incentives to Overseas Pakistanis, on remittance of foreign exchange. It was also recommended by the committee that a joint meeting of M/o Overseas Pakistanis and M/o Finance be called later. Commenting on the issuance of SRO, an importer said that it appears that Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, the mover of the summary, was more powerful than all institutions, including the FBR, NA Standing Committee on Finance and PAC.
Talking to Business Recorder, Khawaja Mansoor Sohail said that he would take up this issue in the National Assembly and the joint meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance and PACwould be convened as FBR has confirmed Rs 17 billion financial loss to the national exchequer in case age of imported used cars was reduced. These figures, however, have been challenged by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA).