The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has introduced a detailed procedure for commercial importers to regularize unregistered mobile phones with SIM/IMEI functionality.
This move aims to streamline the registration process for mobile devices imported into Pakistan, ensuring compliance with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)’s standards.
According to the latest guidelines, the FBR has updated its Customs General Order (CGO) No. 01 of 2019 through the issuance of CGO 1 of 2024.
The amendment specifies the process for obtaining a Certificate of Clearance (COC) for devices that have already received type approval from the PTA.
The procedure mandates that commercial importers apply through the PTA’s Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) online portal.
Applicants are required to upload the necessary documentation for the mobile devices, including lists of IMEI numbers in CSV format.
The DIRBS system will verify these numbers to ensure they are associated with type-approved models and are not reported as stolen, duplicated, or cloned.
Following the application submission on the DIRBS portal, the system will review the provided IMEI numbers before forwarding the application to the FBR’s WeBOC system for customs processing.
Once the FBR approves the application in WeBOC, the DIRBS system will issue a Certificate of Compliance (CoC) for the application.
To initiate this process, importers must first sign up for a commercial account on the DIRBS portal by following a series of steps, including account activation through email verification.
This is aimed at simplifying the registration and approval process for commercial importers, thereby facilitating the legal import and sale of mobile devices in Pakistan.
For further assistance or inquiries, importers are advised to contact the PTA through the designated email address provided in the procedure.
The process is still bit complex but smooth overall. However the major issue is the horrendous
taxation which is applied on used devices due to which most devices become useless and remain unregistered.
A used PTA registered device which is sold in the market for PKR 50,000 is being taxed PKR 60,000 to register with PTA. This is because tax is being applied on the original retail launch price of the device several years back. Why hasn’t FBR taken this into account?