All bonded-warehouse services to go online from 1 January
From that date, no bonded company will receive any UP-related service through any means other than the CBMS software
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has made it mandatory to carry out all bond-related activities online from 1 January.
In a press release issued today (1 December), the NBR said an automated software named 'Customs Bond Management System (CBMS)' was introduced in January this year in order to make the country's bond management modern, transparent and technology-driven.
To provide bonded-warehouse licence-holding companies with services more quickly and transparently, the use of this software will be mandatory for issuing all Utilisation Permission (UP) services in favour of bonded-warehouse licence-holding companies from 1 January, reads the release.
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From that date, no bonded company will receive any UP-related service through any means other than the CBMS software, adds the release.
According to NBR, bonded-warehouse licence-holding exporting companies import raw materials duty-free by obtaining Utilisation Permission (UP) from the relevant Customs Bond Commissionerate in line with the approval of the Duty Exemption and Drawback Office.
Although the UP module of CBMS is active, most companies are still taking UP through manual procedures, with only a small number using the online service. Since the use of the software was not mandatory, its utilisation has not reached the desired level even after 11 months.
Based on user feedback, the CBMS system has been improved and updated to make it more user-friendly, the NBR said.
At present, bonded-warehouse licence-holding companies are receiving online services through 24 modules of the software operated under three customs bond commissionerates of the NBR.
