The Economic Coordination Committee has approved an 11% duty on auto parts in Pakistan, covering 13 items under SRO 693(I)/2006. It has been approved, not imposed and the difference matters.
Approved Is Not the Same as In Force
What the ECC approved is a draft amendment to an existing notification. No report gives an effective date, and none confirms the amended notification has been issued.
We checked the government's own record rather than take that on trust. FBR publishes a register of active customs notifications for imports. SRO 693(I)/2006 is listed there as “Levy of additional Customs Duty on Import of Specified Goods”, issued 1 July 2006 and last updated 29 October 2013.
There is no 2026 amendment against it, and no amending notification shown. So as the register stands today, nothing has changed in law. Until that entry updates, an importer still pays what the existing schedule says.
What the ECC Actually Approved
The proposal came from the Revenue Division and the FBR's Customs Wing, acting on recommendations the Ministry of Industries sent by letter dated 7 September 2026. The ECC approved it roughly five weeks later.
The legal hook is sub-section (5) of Section 18 of the Customs Act, 1969, which is what allows an additional customs duty to be levied on specified imported goods in the first place.
One detail worth holding on to: the rates in this notification are set by the Engineering Development Board, not picked by the ECC. That is why the figure can move.
Which Auto Parts Are Covered?
Both reports describe 13 items. Between them they name twelve, and the thirteenth is not identified anywhere in the reporting.
| Item named in the reporting |
|---|
| Radial and other tyres for heavy commercial vehicles |
| Licence plate |
| Bracket-side reflector |
| Side reflector |
| Right and left side plate |
| Front decorative component |
| Foot rest and the plate for it |
| Wheel assembly and its parts |
| Windscreen and its parts |
| Seat base, tail box and their parts |
| Centre covers and parts |
| Plate and parts |
These are the descriptions as reported, not legal tariff descriptions. No PCT codes have been published, and an item is only covered if its tariff classification appears in the notified schedule. If you import, that schedule is the only list that counts.
What SRO 693(I)/2006 Is, and Why 13 Items Is Small
SRO 693(I)/2006 is the notification that levies an additional customs duty on specified imported goods. It is twenty years old, and it is the standing instrument through which Pakistan protects locally made components by making the imported equivalent dearer.
Its scale is the part most coverage leaves out. The notification already covers more than 1,200 tariff codes, each at its own EDB-determined rate.
Against that, thirteen new items is an addition of roughly one per cent. This is a routine widening of a long-running protection list, not a new tax on the auto sector — which is worth knowing before anyone tells you parts prices are about to jump.
Why 11% May Not Be the Final Rate
The 11% is the rate in the approved proposal. The Ministry of Industries has asked for a higher rate on these particular items, without a figure being published, and the EDB is the body that fixes it.
So there are two open questions, not one. Whether the amendment is notified, and at what rate it lands. Anybody quoting 11% as settled is quoting a draft.
Will This Increase Car or Parts Prices?
Not automatically, and not by 11% on anything you buy. An additional customs duty sits on top of the normal customs duty and other taxes at import, so it is one component of a landed cost, not the whole of it.
Three things decide whether a price moves. Whether the exact part you want is in the notified schedule at all. Whether a local alternative exists at a comparable price, since the whole point is to push buyers towards one. And whether the importer absorbs the cost or passes it on.
The honest answer today is that imported versions of these specific items get dearer if and when the amendment is notified, while locally made equivalents become relatively cheaper. That is the intent. Whether it reaches a retail shelf depends on the part.
What the 11% duty on auto parts in Pakistan will not change is demand. Our look at Pakistan's vehicle population showed a fleet that is overwhelmingly private and ageing, so the need for Pakistan auto spare parts only grows.
What the Government Says It Is For
The stated reason is that these parts are now made in Pakistan, so imports of them should be made less competitive. The longer-term case offered is saved foreign exchange, jobs, and eventually export capacity.
That is the government's position, and it is written here as that rather than as an outcome. Localisation has been Pakistan's declared aim through several policy cycles, and rising running costs are reshaping what people buy, as we covered in electric vehicles and rising petrol costs.
How to Check the Legal Position Yourself
If you import parts, do not act on a news report. Open FBR's active import notifications, find SRO 693(I)/2006, and look at its last-updated date and the amendments listed against it. When that entry changes, the rule has changed.
Then confirm the exact tariff code and the effective date with a licensed clearing agent. A description in a newspaper and a line in a tariff schedule are not the same thing.
Final Thoughts
An 11% additional customs duty on 13 auto-sector items has been approved by the ECC under SRO 693(I)/2006, on the Ministry of Industries' recommendation, to protect parts now made locally. Twelve of the thirteen items have been named publicly.
But FBR's own register still shows no 2026 amendment to that notification, the rate is one the Ministry wants raised, and no effective date exists. Treat it as approved and pending, and watch the register rather than the headlines.
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