ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan has witnessed import of 49,348 used cars during previous fiscal year 2015-16 and January was the month when 6,363 such cars were imported to meet vehiculars needs.
A month-wise summary of imported used cars on Friday showed that during month of July Pakistan imported 3614 used cars, August 3,659 units, September 3,794 units, October 4,099 units, November 3,989 units, December 4,028 units, January 6,363 units, February 3,252 units, March 3,555 units, April 4,233 units, May 4,524 units and during June 3,848 used were imported.
Sources at Industries and Production Division have said under new trade policy (2015-18) maximum three years old cars are importable. Mostly in Pakistan used cars are being imported from Japan and these cars are E-IV and above with regard to emissions.
The sources said currently, in Pakistan E-II emission standards are being followed, so there would be hardly any chance that these used imported cars will impact the environment.
Replying to a question, the sources said quality of locally assembled/manufactured cars has not been decreased.
Regarding initiatives taken by the government in Automotive Development Policy 2016-21, the sources said these were enforcement of safety regulations by taking membership of Working Party (WP 29) of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to adopt global harmonized vehicle regulations.
The other were compulsory installation of immobilizers in cars and product recall system be put in place in line with global practice.
Moreover, the sources said another step is establishment of Pakistan Automotive Institute (PAI) in public private partnership with objectives to play a crucial role in assuring quality and safety by providing basic infrastructure for development of more efficient vehicles and to provide technical expertise in research and development, testing, certification, homologation and framing of vehicle regulations.
In addition to above, the sources said the government has taken some certain initiatives in Automotive Development Policy 2016-21 to remove monopolistic environment, especially in small car segment by attracting new investors/players to create competition and automatically force present manufacturers to enhance their quality or introduce quality cars.
They said a roadmap for adoption of WP29 of United Nations Regulations or Global Technical Regulations (GTRs) for Automotive has been approved by the ECC under new Automotive Development Policy (ADP 2016-21).
The adoption of UNECE regulations by Pakistan paves the way for mutual recognition of vehicle certification system and facilitates trade without an additional cumbersome testing requirement of a member importing country to be met.
Source: APP
