Customs agents licensing rules as chapter VIII of the Customs Rules, 2001

Government of Pakistan

(Revenue Division)

Federal Board of Revenue

le****

Islamabad, the 24th December, 2024.

NOTIFICATION

S.R.O. go 7/ (1)/2024.- In exercise of the powers conferred by section 219 of the Customs

Act, 1969 (IV of 1969), section 50 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, section 40 of the Federal Excise

Act, 2005 and section 237 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 (XLIX of 2001), the Federal Board

of Revenue is pleased to direct that the following further amendments shall be made in the Customs

Rules, 2001, which, as required under sub-section (3A) of the said section 219, were previously

published vide Notification No. S.R.O. 1618(1)/2024, dated the 2.11 October, 2024, namely:-

In the aforesaid Rules, -

for rule 91, the following shall be substituted, namely: -

( 1 )

"91. Application. -The Board shall each year on the Pt day of November,

invite applications through advertisement in reputable newspapers from

prospective eligible applicants for grant of customs agents licence through

competitive process in accordance with the terms and conditions specified

therein:

Provided that in case of first examination under these rules, the same shall

be held any time after completion of hiring of an accredited institution for

conducting of qualification test.";

(2) for rule 93, the following shall be substituted, namely: -

"93. Qualification test- (1) There shall be a qualification test for grant

of customs agents licence to be conducted by an accredited institution to be

specified in the advertisement published in two leading national newspapers.

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The qualification test shall cover customs laws, allied regulations, rules and

procedures, computer proficiency and knowledge of customs computerized

system as set out in Appendix.

The existing provisional licence holders shall appear in the first

examination to be conducted under this rule and if they fail to appear, their

provisional licenses shall stand cancelled. There shall be two chances of

appearance in the examination and on 2" time failure, the provisional licence

shall be blocked and last 3"d chance shall be available to them.

No application shall be considered for the grant of licence if the

applicant fails to secure at least fifty percent marks in the written

examination.";

(3) in rule 95, -

in sub-rule (1), for the word "two", wherever occurring, the word

"five" shall be substituted; and

sub-rules (9) and (10) shall be omitted;

(4) in rule 96, in sub-rule (1), -

for clause (c), the following shall be substituted, namely: -

"(c) proof of payment of renewal fee at a rate of ten thousand

rupees per year for the renewal of licence for five years;";

and

in clause (d), for the expression "Pakistan Customs Academy

(PCA)", the expression "Customs Academy of Pakistan (CAP)"

shall be substituted;

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in rule 98, in sub-rule (I), in the proviso, after the word "in", the word "erstwhile"

shall be inserted;

in rule 99, in sub-rules (I) and (2), for the expression "Pakistan Customs Academy

(PCA)", wherever occurring, the expression "Customs Academy of Pakistan

(CAP)" and for the word "six" the word "two" shall be substituted;

after rule 101, the following new rule 101A shall be inserted, namely: -

-

"101A. Point scoring mechanism in Customs Computerized System.

The customs computerized system shall be so devised to introduce a point scoring

system for accurate description, classification, valuation, origin, unit of

measurement, etc. over a period of time and number of declarations filed thereof by

the customs clearing agent."

in rule 102, -

in clause (o), the word "or", occurring at the end shall be omitted;

after clause (p), for the full stop at the end, a semi colon and the word "or" shall

be substituted and thereafter the following new clause shall be added, namely: -

"(q) notwithstanding above violations, customs computerized system

shall be so devised to introduce a point system for violation of

misdeclaration and false statement by the licensee which shall

entail automatic penalty by way of deduction of points from the

aggregate of 50. In case of reduction of aggregate points to zero,

the licence shall be blocked and proceedings for revocation or

cancellation or restoration in the light of sub-rules (2), (3), (4) and

(5) of rule 102 shall be initiated in the customs computerized

system.";

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(9) after rule 105, the following new rule 105A shall be inserted, namely: -

"105A. Blocking of licence. - A licence shall be blocked and proceedings for

revocation or cancellation shall be initiated in the customs computerized system in

the following cases, namely: -

reduction of aggregate points awarded in the customs

computerized system to zero; and

failure to file any goods declaration within past one year and

fail to appear for identification and confirmation before the

licensing authority.": and

(10) after rule 105A, inserted as foresaid, the following Appendix shall be added,

namely: -

Appendix

(see rule 93)

Syllabus for Test of Customs Clearing Agents License (Rule 93 of the Customs Rules, 2001)

1. Customs Act, 1969: -

Filing of Customs documents;

Types of Goods Declaration;

Suspensive regime of duty and taxes;

Adjudication;

Valuation and classification;

Offenses and penalties; and

Concessions and exemptions.

1. Customs Rules: -

Baggage Rules;

Recovery of government dues;

Warehousing Rules;

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Transshipment and Transit; and

Responsibilities of clearing agents.

1. Procedures: -

Examination and assessment;

Reviews and appeals;

Filing of Rebate claims;

Import by privileged persons; and

Amendment of documents.

1. Basic Knowledge of Harmonized Tariff Classification System.
2. Allied Trade Laws: -

Import Policy Order — Prohibitions and restrictions;

""Q:

Export Policy Order - Prohibitions and restrictions;

Foreign Exchange Manual of State Bank of Pakistan (chapter 12 and 13); and

Anti-dumping and countervailing duty.

1. Border procedures of neighboring countries and major trade partners: -

Preferential Trade Agreements; and

Free Trade Agreements.

1. Computer Proficiency: -

MS Office (intermediate level);

Email; and

Web browsing and use of Internet.

1. Customs Computerized System: -

Fair level of familiarization with Web Based One Customs (WeBOC) and Pakistan Single

Window (PSW); and

1. Ethical business practices: -
2. Suggested Resources: -

(1) Customs Act, 1969;

First Schedule to the Customs Act, 1969;

Customs Rules, 2001 — Pakistan Customs Laws Vol II (relevant chapters);

5

Import Policy Order, 2022 (or in vogue);

Export Policy Order, 2022 (or in vogue);

Foreign Exchange Manual of State Bank of Pakistan (as amended up to 2020);

FBRI Federal Board of Revenue - Government of Pakistan(fbr.gov.pk);

Pakistan Single Window (psw.gov.pk);

One-Customs (Paperless Goods Declaration Processing System) (weboc.gov.pk); and

Ministry of Commerce I Government of Pakistan (commerce.gov.pk).".

[C.No.1(7)L&P/2006-Pt]

(Zakir Muh minad)

Secreta

(Law and Procedure)

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