Islamabad: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has appreciated the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Pakistan Customs for taking decisive action against the misdeclaration of fabric being imported by misuse of exemption from duties and taxes under the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS).
In the past, APTMA has been repeatedly raising concerns over large-scale misuse of EFS in the import of greige fabric, which was excluded from the scheme under SRO 1435(I)/2025 in August 2025. For nearly a year, such imports have been entering the country free of customs duty and sales tax through misdeclaration, causing serious injury to domestic fabric manufacturers.
Customs has now rightly taken to carefully examine fabric consignments imported by falsely claiming exemption under EFS. Such physical verifications coupled with laboratory tests of samples will help in determining the factual description of imported fabric to arrest incessant abuse of exemption being availed under EFS by mis-declaring the description of fabric. In a number of consignments examined, testing has reportedly detected the use of food colouring rather than proper dyeing, and contraventions have been recorded.
APTMA has urged that physical examination and laboratory testing be carried out for all future fabric consignments imported under EFS across the country, including at dry ports. APTMA strongly appreciates this enforcement action by FBR and the field formations of Customs Collectorates. Misdeclaration of greige fabric not only results in loss of legitimate government revenue but creates an unfair advantage against domestic manufacturers that have invested heavily in local production and employment.
The manufacturing facilities of importers availing EFS should also be verified, as reportedly several such importers do not possess the requisite fabric processing machinery and imported fabric is instead being diverted to the open market. Where any sort of wrongdoing is established, licenses of the entities concerned should be suspended and criminal action initiated in accordance with law.
APTMA looks forward to continued enforcement by FBR to curb misdeclaration, protect domestic manufacturing and ensure that the Export Facilitation Scheme operates strictly for its intended purpose and not as a tool of evasion and corruption.