According to the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement, the Pakistani government has announced a new list of goods that Afghanistan is not permitted to import through Pakistani seaports or border ports.
Tyres, black tea, nuts and dry fruits, textiles, cosmetics, hoover flasks, and home equipment are among the prohibited commodities. A statutory regulatory order (SRO) was released by the commerce ministry to update the import and export order from 2004.
Tyres, Hoover flasks, fabrics with 17 different HS Codes, 3 varieties of black tea, 14 cosmetics and toiletries, 12 types of nuts and fruits, and 59 types of home appliance completely built units (CBUs) are among the things that are prohibited, according to Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) 1397(I)2023.
Fabrics, tyres, black tea, cosmetics and toiletries, nuts and fruits, hoover flasks, and household appliance CBUs that arrived in Karachi before the ban was implemented were also permitted to be transported to Afghanistan by the Ministry of Commerce.
According to the SRO, the Federal Government has issued new SROs in accordance with the authority granted by sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1950 (XXXIX of 1950), which states that certain items, such as fabrics, tyres, black tea, cosmetics and toiletries, nuts and fruits, hoover flasks, and home appliance CBUs, which have already been imported, will be permitted to be transported to Afghanistan.
“Provided that the new measures under S.No.2A to 2G shall be subject to the following conditions, namely (i) they shall not apply to the transit cargo already arriving at Pakistani airports,” the SRO from the Commerce Ministry continued. Upon arriving at Pakistani ports, high-seas goods will have the option of being reexported, and (ii) they won’t apply to transit cargo intended for foreign grant-in-aid to Afghanistan.
