FBR inks agreement to make track, trace system operational from July 2021

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday inked a contract with AJCL along with its lead partner Authentix Inc. USA and Mitas Corporation of South Africa to operationalize Track and Trace Solution on tobacco, cement, sugar and fertilizer sectors, ARY NEWS reported.

According to details shared by the FBR spokesman from his Twitter handle, Member IR-Operations of the tax authority Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, CEO, Authentix Kevin McKenna, Sten Bertelsen representing Mitas Corporation, and CEO of AJCL Omer Jaffer signed the contract on behalf of their respective organizations.

“The Track and Trace Solution is to be rolled out across the tobacco, cement, sugar and fertilizer sectors from 1st July 2021 in Pakistan and would enhance tax revenue, reducing counterfeiting and prevention of smuggling of illicit goods,” said the spokesman.

He further said that the system involves the implementation of a robust, nationwide, electronic monitoring system of production volumes by the affixation of more than 5 billion tax stamps on various products at the production stage, which will enable FBR to track the goods throughout the supply chain.

Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed said that the FBR shall be working closely with AJCL Consortium during the rollout of the program across different industries on very aggressive timelines.

Kevin McKenna of Authentix stated that the program would help provide a transformational boost to the local economy, enhance revenue and make the tax collection process more transparent.

CEO AJCL, remarked that the Consortium was looking forward to working with FBR to configure and implement the various components of the solution

“45million tons of cement, more than 4 billion sticks of tobacco cigarettes, more than 4million tons of sugar and more than 30 million tons of fertilizer would be brought into the tax net,” the FBR spokesman said adding that it would enhance digitization of economic activity, improve revenue forecasting and curb counterfeit products in the market.