ISLAMABAD, Jan 29: The government has announced procedure for regulating import of non-prohibited bore (NPB) arms and ammunition for the licensed dealers.

The procedure was notified by the commerce ministry through a notification released here on Saturday to allow import of arms only by those dealers, who had registered themselves with the commerce ministry between 1972-1997. No new dealer could apply for registration under the scheme for import of arms.

Those dealers would be entitled for import authorisation who qualify the following criteria: hold valid arms dealers' license issued under the Arms Act 1878 (XI of 1878) for import, stock and sale of (NPB) arms and ammunition; operate regular commercial business in arms and ammunition as evidenced by annual renewal of arms dealership licenses; are regular sales tax and income tax payers on account of their arms dealership business; and have not been found guilty of a commercial or criminal offence.

Wilful false declaration of quantity, quality or CIF value of arms and ammunition will be treated as commercial offence under this clause. The arms dealers, who possessed import authorisations issued prior to December 2, 1997 and in respect of whom authorized bank branches maintained Category Pass Books can apply for import authorisation under this procedure in accordance with the monetary entitlements mentioned in the Annexure.

Bank Procedure: The authorised bank branches shall maintain Category Pass Book of each individual dealer and open letters of credit for import of NPB arms and ammunition in accordance with the monetary entitlement issued by ministry of commerce (MoC); the ministry will determine the monetary entitlement for an arms dealer only once i.e. at initial authorisation stage.

Subsequently, the bank branch maintaining the Category Pass Book shall be responsible for making necessary adjustments in the entitlement of a Category Pass Book holder on the basis of value statement certified by the Customs Authorities and stock statement to be presented by the Category Pass Book holder for renewal of his entitlement for the next year.

The bank maintaining Category Pass Books on the basis of initial Authorisation Certificate issued by the MoC, will be responsible to supply periodical statements of entitlement and actual imports by each Category Pass Book holder to the MoC, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Customs Authorities as and when formally so required.

If an entitled person value of imports as assessed by Customs Authorities exceeds the value of letters of credit established during a year, the value limit of entitled person for the next years shall be reduced by the extent; and the value entitlement for the next year shall also be reduced to the extent of unsold stock from the previous year. This clause shall take effect from the third year of import by an entitled person.

Customs Procedure: Import of arms and ammunition will be made at a customs station (seaport, airport or dryport) nearest to the business location of an authorised dealer; customs authorities will maintain import record of each individual dealer in consolidated for. A consolidated and updated statement of amount of CIF import value utilized by a dealer will be supplied by customs authorises to the bank branch concerned, SBP, MoC and the importing dealer on quarterly basis and the CIF value of import of arms and ammunition will be reckoned on the actual import value as assessed by customs authorities.

Application Procedure: for obtaining initial authorisation certificate, each applicant will supply the following documents to MoC along with his application namely: a certified copy of the embossed authorisation issued by MoC in favour of the applicant before Dec 1997; a certified copy of the Category Pass Book maintained by the bank in favour of the applicant before Dec 1997; name of the bank branch with full address and telephone and fax numbers through which the applicant intends to open letters of credit.

Only one bank branch will be authorised to open letters of credit for efficient and effective control of accounts; copy of valid arms dealers licence issued under the Arms /Act 1878 (XI OF 1878) for import, stock and sale of arms and ammunition; operative business address with telephone, fax and e-mail etc; documentary evidence of sales tax and income tax payment on account of arms dealership business and a certificate from the Licensing Authority that no criminal offence has been committed by the applicant during the course of arms dealership business.

MoC Procedure: Applications for initial authorisation will be invited through letters to individual arms dealers whose addresses are available in Ministry of Commerce or through the Arms Dealers Association; authorisation certificate issued by MoC will bear the maximum amount of value up to which an entitled person is authorized to make imports during the financial year; after three years, performance of each entitled person or company shall be reviewed by MoC for necessary adjustments in the entitlement under the prescribed rules and procedure; an efficient and effective monitoring system shall be put in place to oversee imports, sales and stocks to avoid any misuse of the system.

The entitled persons found indulging in malpractice of sales/purchase of licences, false declaration of value or any other violation of the procedure prescribed by MoC or any provision of the Arms Act would be taken to task including reduction or cancellation of entitlement.