Chief Collector of Customs Appraisement (South), Muhammad Jamil Nasir Khan has said that the recently launched Faceless Customs Assessment (FCA) System has significantly improved the efficiency of customs operations, reducing Goods Declaration (GD) clearance time to an average of 18 hours from the previous 109 hours.
Delivering a presentation on FCA System during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), the Chief Collector highlighted the system’s positive impact on importers, including reduced demurrage charges and costs. He noted that the FCA system eliminates the need for importers to visit public offices or engage in lengthy litigations. Since its launch in mid-December, the system has maintained robust revenue collection, with Rs. 86 billion collected within the first 15 days of its implementation, he added.
President KCCI Muhammad Jawed Bilwani, Senior Vice President Zia ul Arfeen, Vice President Faisal Khalil Ahmed, Chairman Customs & Valuation Subcommittee Arif Lakhani, Former Presidents Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra and KCCI Managing Committee Members attended the meeting.
The Chief Collector explained that the FCA system’s rapid clearance of GDs was expected to encourage other departments to expedite their operations, contributing to the overall competitiveness of Pakistan’s economy. He said that future plans include establishing a Centralized Examination Center in Karachi, equipped with bodycams for examiners to ensure transparency and real-time monitoring. Financial assistance for the project is being provided by the World Bank, and an incentive-based system for appraisers will also be introduced, linking their performance to speed, quality, and quantity of GD processing, Jamil Nasir said, adding that the system will also be expanded by establishing Customs Assessment Units (CAUs) in Lahore and Islamabad which will be integrated with Karachi’s operations as it was a city which covers 80 percent of the imports.
Chief Collector acknowledged initial challenges during the first few days but credited the unwavering support of KCCI for enabling its smooth implementation. He praised the improved processes under the FCA system, citing a 31 per cent reduction in GDs routed through the red and yellow channels, a significant increase in green channel clearances, and a 75 per cent drop in document calls.
The new system has also eliminated the group-based assessment structure, consolidating all 80 officials into a single controlled environment where GDs are processed sequentially to prevent favoritism. The improved clearance process has reduced additional costs for importers, such as delays and unnecessary payments, while ensuring revenue integrity.
The Chief Collector emphasized that the FCA system already delivers substantial benefits for industrial raw material importers and addresses issues prevalent in commercial and miscellaneous imports. He reaffirmed his commitment to further enhancing customs operations to support Pakistan’s economic growth.
Earlier, President KCCI Muhammad Jawed Bilwani, while warmly welcoming Collector Customs, commended the launch of the Faceless Customs Assessment System, which has garnered widespread appreciation from the business community for its potential to revolutionize the customs clearance process. “We believe that the Faceless Assessment System would also prove favorable for the exports as faster clearance of imported raw materials directly contributes to quicker production cycles, ultimately boosting exports.”
He urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ensure that the system continues to operate seamlessly at full capacity in the long term as this system has the potential to expedite container traffic at ports, thereby improving Pakistan’s port operations ranking on a global scale. “We hope similar reforms are introduced to further optimize the clearance process, enabling consignment clearance within hours. Such efficiency will minimize demurrage and detention losses, as seen in some of the world’s fastest ports”, he added.
Underscoring the need to make the faceless system completely foolproof, Jawed Bilwani suggested that success of faceless clearance system diminishes the need for dry ports across the country. Consolidating all imported consignment clearances at the ports through the faceless system would address issues such as corruption and misdeclaration.
While highlighting Pakistan’s recent achievement of the Current Account surplus, he pointed to the pressing need to address the trade deficit. “Innovations like the FASTER system, faceless customs assessment, and other automation tools are vital for achieving a trade surplus”, he remarked.
He further noted that exporters have benefited from timely refund payments through the FASTER system introduced by the FBR. However, delays persist due to the Ministry of Finance’s release of funds. To address this, President Bilwani proposed categorizing sectors and creating separate accounts for refund disbursements rather than retaining all refunds under the general pool. “This approach would reduce delays in releasing refunds, which continue to burden exporters.”