To reduce pressure on foreign exchange reserves, the Government of Pakistan issued Standing Regulatory Order (SRO) 598 in May 2022, restricting the import of nearly 800 items in 33 categories of “luxury and non-essential” goods, including sanitary products, mobile phones, automobiles, home appliances, footwear, furniture, and food items. Pakistan’s 2020 Import Policy Order continues bans on goods from India and Israel. In addition, there is a “negative list” of products that are banned, mostly on religious, environmental, security, and health grounds. Pakistan also bans the import of many types 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 the import status of any product which cannot be resolved by the Customs Authorities are referred to the Ministry of Commerce for a final decision. The government reserves the power to grant sector-specific duty exemptions, concessions, and protections under 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 the 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.
For Digital trade Barriers, see the sub-section on Challenges.