KARACHI: The government has agreed to soften labeling conditions till end of June 2019 in order to facilitate consignments stuck up at ports, industry sources said on Wednesday.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood in a communication with Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) assured to defer the implementation of SRO 237 till June 30, 2019, said a statement issued by KCCI.
The ministry of commerce issued SRO 237(I)/2019 on February 19, 2019 making it mandatory for all imported food products to have Halal labeling and mush print ingredients in Urdu and English languages.
Further it was also made mandatory that the shipment shall be accompanied by a Halal Certificate issued by a Halal Certification Body, accredited with an Accrediting Body which is a member of International Halal Accreditation Forum or Standard Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries.
In a statement the business leader of KCCI Siraj Kassem Teli said that the adviser had assured the implementation of the SRO from July 01, 2019.
He demanded the ministry to direct customs authorities to comply with the orders and release stuck up consignments without the conditions.
The Ministry of Commerce must careful in future notification. Before issuing any such notification mist have think twice about its pros cons. This would be another U turn by PTI led government. The Ministry must issue revise notification immediately to save the bad sufferers of this ridiculous order from ministry.
The immediate redressal is required in this genuine demands of importers. The Ministry of Commerce must issue immediate notification for extension of effective date of the SRO 237. Since a large volume of containers are stuck up in various ports of Pakistan so ministry must also pass an order to clear these containers without port and shipping complanies detention and demurrage.