The government has refused to grant one-time exemption for import of vintage cars. In this regard, the commerce ministry had tabled a case before the cabinet in a meeting held last week.
The Commerce Division informed the participants that the Import Policy Order (IPO) 2020, Appendix-C, Clause 10 stated that the import of second hand/used vehicles was not allowed except for those specifically exempted under Chapter 87.
Residents of Pakistan cannot import used vehicles including vintage ones.
The Federal Board of Revenue (Revenue Division) issued SRO 833(I)/2018 dated July 3, 2018, under which a cumulative duty of $5,000 per unit was levied on the import of vintage cars/ jeeps (PCT 8703) that were over 50 years old.
However, the SRO could not be applied because of the ban on import of vintage cars in the Import Policy Order.
To make a corresponding amendment to the Import Policy Order, a summary was moved to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) by the Commerce Division in January 2019, which contained a proposal to allow import and import-cum-export of vintage cars. However, the said proposal was not approved.
Meanwhile, some of the cars that were imported under SRO 833(I)/2018 had arrived in the country. Importers of these cars then began approaching different courts to request the release of their cars.
They argued that they had imported the cars on the basis of the SRO and were unaware of any ban in the import policy.
