Rules eased for faster release of bonded goods

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has eased rules for faster clearance of industrial raw materials and other items imported duty-free under bonded warehouse licences.

In a press statement issued yesterday, the revenue board said its field offices dealing with bonded warehouse-related issues will allow the release of goods from bonded warehouses even if there are discrepancies in the declaration of goods and the Harmonised System (HS) Code, a globally standardised numerical system for classifying traded products.

The move comes as mismatches between HS codes or descriptions in bond licences, utilisation declarations (UDs) or import declarations of goods to be used for making export products often delay customs clearance.

Such delays hinder the timely shipment of export consignments, creating bottlenecks in meeting export orders.

Under the new guidelines, if customs authorities determine a different HS code or description during physical examination, but the first four digits of the code match those mentioned in the bonded warehouse-related documents, the goods may be released promptly.

This will, however, require the bonded warehouse licence holder to submit an undertaking to update the HS code or product description to the respective field office.

Furthermore, if customs determine a completely different HS code, goods can still be released within two days by updating the code in the Customs Bond Management System (CBMS).

The NBR expects the measures to remove procedural bottlenecks, ensure faster release of goods, and ease export operations for bonded warehouse licensees.

By reducing clearance delays, the directive is aimed at lowering costs for exporters, improving compliance, and ultimately contributing to export growth and foreign currency earnings, the revenue authority said.