ECC adds 11% extra customs duty on 13 more imported auto parts made in Pakistan

Thirteen more imported auto parts will pay an additional 11% customs duty after the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved a proposal from the Revenue Division and the Federal Board of Revenue, ProPakistani reported on Friday, citing PakWheels.

The parts are ones the government says are now made in Pakistan. The decision updates SRO 693(I)/2006, the long-running order that puts extra duty on imported components that have a local alternative, to push assemblers to buy from local vendors.

Which parts

The full list of 13 has not been published. The items reported include:

• tyres for heavy commercial vehicles (trucks and buses)
• licence plates
• reflectors and brackets
• footrests
• wheel assemblies
• windscreens
• seat bases
• tail boxes
• various covers, plates and decorative parts

More than 1,200 tariff lines already sit under the SRO, with rates that vary by how far each part has been localised. The Engineering Development Board and the Ministry of Industries and Production recommend new items as local production grows. No effective date was given in the reports.

Will car and bike prices go up?

Not necessarily, and not immediately. The duty only bites when an assembler or importer keeps buying the part from abroad. If local versions are available at a fair price and quality, makers switch and the extra cost never reaches the showroom. Where the local alternative is weak, the cost can be passed on.

Heavy commercial vehicle tyres are the item most likely to be felt outside the factories, by transporters who import replacement tyres.

Check the price you pay

For the current list prices of cars and bikes from the makers, see our car prices and bike prices pages, which record every change. If you are buying on instalments, the car loan calculator shows what a price rise does to the monthly payment, and the car registration tax calculator gives the tax on a new car.

We will update this story when the FBR publishes the amended SRO with the full list and the date it takes effect.