On May 19, 2022, the Government of Pakistan through the Ministry of Commerce under the authority conferred by the sub-section (1) of section (3) of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act 1950 (web ref: https://www.fia.gov.pk/files/act/7.pdf ), enacted and enforced a Special Regulatory Order (SRO) number 598(1) 2022, imposing a temporary ban on the imports of thirty-three (33) luxury/ non-essential items. According to local sources, the major impetus behind this decision is to control the flight of capital and control the current account deficit of the country. The commodities list with PCT codes under this ban is as follows https://www.commerce.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/SRO-Ban-on-Import-of-Luxury-and-N_essential-Items.pdf.

In addition, on May 30, 2022, the Ministry issued another official memorandum specifying that this SRO will not be applicable on the import of raw materials, intermediate goods, and industrial equipment/machinery required by industrial/manufacturing concerns and foreign grant-in-aid projects. The Government of Pakistan removed the ban on August 19, adding additional import duties on many items that had been covered by the ban.

Pakistan’s 2020 Import Policy Order continues bans on goods from India and Israel. In addition, there is a negative list of various products that is banned, mostly on religious, environmental, security, and health grounds. Pakistan also bans the import of live animals such as cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats, meat and bone meal, tallow containing protein and feed ingredients from any Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) affected countries. A previous ban on the import of live animals from the United States was lifted in 2015. Any dispute or clarifications regarding import status of any product which cannot be resolved by the Customs Authorities are referred to Ministry of Commerce for a final decision. The government reserves the power to grant sector-specific duty exemptions, concessions, and protections under Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs). SROs and other trade policy and regulatory documents are published on the Federal Board of Revenue’s website.

In January 2000, Pakistan implemented the WTO Customs Valuation agreement and modified its system for valuation of goods. Since then, several traders in the food and consumer products sectors have expressed concerns regarding a lack of uniformity in customs valuation. Similarly, a few major U.S. companies in the machinery and materials sector have reported specific concerns that customs officials have erroneously assessed goods based on a set of minimum values rather than the declared transactional value.