The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced that Pakistan Customs will be replacing its existing WeBOC customs clearance system with a new, state-of-the-art Customs Digital Management System.

According to the details released by the FBR, the customs transformation project involves the deployment of advanced hyper-automation tools. The Pakistan Single Window Company, as the designated implementation partner of Pakistan Customs, will be responsible for quickly developing the new Customs Digital Management System.

This move aims to replace the aging WeBOC system with a more robust and comprehensive digital system, which will improve compliance and ease of doing business.

The FBR further informed that Pakistan Customs has successfully completed the business process mapping of its core functions during the first five months of the World Bank-funded project for the transformation of Customs operations. This project was designed in April 2021 and has been in implementation since December 2023.

Technical experts from KGH and Maersk, global leaders in customs administration reforms and logistics, are collaborating through 16 working groups notified by the FBR for each work stream of Customs.

Pakistan Customs has been at the forefront of digitalization, with the indigenously developed WeBOC system enabling the collection of over 45% of the FBR’s annual revenue and helping implement the national trade policy while handling imports, exports, and transit trade in a paperless environment.

Despite being one of the most digitalized entities of the government, Pakistan Customs has remained cognizant of the challenges posed by the growing globalization of cross-border trade and transit supply chains, geographic dispersion of manufacturing, and the adoption of disruptive technologies like blockchain, AI, and Big Data.

In the next phase of this key project, all mapped processes will be benchmarked and redesigned as per international standards recommended by the WTO, WCO, and UN, as well as the best practices adopted by leading customs administrations worldwide.

Furthermore, the project will help towards the end-to-end digitalization of Pakistan Customs, realigning the legal framework, organizational structure, and operational model. The upgradation of risk management, post-clearance audit capabilities, and the use of technology, along with the elimination of redundant tasks, will enable Customs to redirect its resources towards more critical functions.