The Government of Pakistan has decided to introduce compulsory duty and minor penalties on the use of non-registered phones. Blocked cell phones will be re-activated after paying a Regulatory Duty fee to the nearest center which will be established for this purpose.
This step is being taken in order to cut down the rate of import of illegal mobile phones. It is being estimated that the import for mobile phones in the market cut short about $1.5 Billion in the national treasury whereas the import of legal phones in 17-18 is estimated to be around 847.656 million. Also note that the government has already issued a notice or a process called DIRBS as system which will verify legally imported phones and will also curtail the smuggling of illegal ones which help the economy of Pakistan increase in the process
Furthermore it is rumored that 15 November will be the date to check if your phone matches the regulatory parameters or not after which the unverified device userswull be subject to a two month extension to pay off a regulatory duty in order to legalize their smartphones or else they will be blocked according to the reports from media. The duty cost is set to be announced in the coming few days after the approval comes from the Federal Cabinet
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Moreover FBR has already announced the Regulatory Duty dependent on the cellphones with different prices which declares that
- Cell Phones which have the price tag of $60 are to be charged with a duty of Rs 250.
- Cell Phones ranging from $60 to $130 aree to be charged a 10% fee of the phones actual price.
- The phones which cost more tha $130 will be charged a fee of 20% of the phones actual price.
Finally the new Duties will be allowed and forced upon after keeping in mind the price tag of the cellphones but one thing is for sure it will definitely help in increasing the price surge of Phones.
