An awareness and interactive session on Electronic Import Form (EIF) was organised by the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) here on Friday. Director exchange policy department Fazal Mehmood and his team led the meeting from State Bank of Pakistan. President RCCI Raja Amer Iqbal, Senior Vice President Rashid Waien, Vice President Asim Malik, members of the executive committee, representatives from customs, commercial banks and a large number of exporters and importers attended the session.
Addressing the session, Fazal Mahmood said that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has directed that all the imports into Pakistan should be made compulsorily through Electronic Import Form (EIF) to curb illegal and duplicate payments of imports by unscrupulous elements. SBP respects the importers and exporters being the key stakeholder in bringing foreign exchange to Pakistan. He said that the dynamics of the economy have now changed and the SBP’s prime objective was to document the real-time data of imports and exports through automation of the import form.
RCCI President Raja Amer Iqbal, in his welcome address, said that the chamber’s prior responsibility was to facilitate members and traders to address the key issues related to the EIF. He appreciated SBP’s role in bringing awareness through interactive sessions and working towards the documentation of the economy. Under the National Action Plan (NAP), it is necessary to abide by the international laws related to the Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money laundering (AML), he added. However, president RCCI showed concerns on the less number of commercial branches in Rawalpindi dealing with imports of goods and suggested to set up a helping desk in respected branches. The issue of third party payment, partial payment, minimum cash holding and rate of the letter of credit (LC), must be rationalised and settled through the relevant stakeholders amicably, he further added. He said EIF will help to curb multiple payments against single consignments, fake and forged forms, improving forecasting /assessment of import data.
