The Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce chaired the 4th meeting of theNational e-Commerce Council (NeCC) at the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) onThursday.
The NeCC discussed operationalization of cross border e-Commerce procedure,incentives for promoting e-Commerce, discussion on International PaymentServices (i.e., PayPal) through checkout, Mercantile Stock Exchange,digital on-boarding services, Reports of Consultative Committee of WomenEconomic Empowerment (WEE), e-Commerce business facilitation portal,Consumer Protection Councils, availability of broadband to remote areas,Trade Development Authority of Pakistan’s (TDAP) Digital Transformationprocess, and collaboration with Small and Medium Enterprises DevelopmentAuthority (SMEDA) on e-Commerce related matters.——————————
The National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) informed themeeting that it is developing a payment solution for crossborder/international payments in collaboration with the SBP.
With this platform, people residing outside Pakistan will be able to paythrough Paypal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay, while payments within Pakistanwill be processed by integration with any international payment provider.This payment system will be facilitated by the involvement of a third party.——————————
NIFT informed that the platform’s payment facility was to become functionalby the end of 2020. However, the multi-party engagement with the effect ofCOVID has affected the plan. Now, they are working on it and will update assoon as they are ready to take it to SBP.
Assistance from SBP will come in once they put in the complete details fortheir review. The pilot run is now expected in the second quarter of 2021.
The SBP gave a thorough presentation on its efforts to promote cross-bordere-Commerce.
The sub-committee on Financial Inclusion & Digitization shared its progressof conducted three webinars for freelancers, mobile wallet andaccount-based solutions, and card-based payments in collaboration with MOC.
It informed that it was is in the process of issuing a white paper on thesuggestions received for further deliberation.
FBR briefed the meeting on the legal framework updates, includinge-Commerce rules regarding the mechanism of Imports Goods Clearance, Returnof Goods Policy, and WEBOC e-Commerce Module.
It also informed that National Taxation Council (NTC) is working on theharmonization of the taxation regime in all provinces and federation.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan’s e-commerce marketexpanded to Rs. 96 billion in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021(Q1-2021) compared to Rs. 71 billion in the same quarter in the last fiscalyear.
E-Commerce merchants with pre-payment options have increased to 2,164 from1,410 in the past year.
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NeCC was also briefed on matters relating to Consultative Committee onWomen Economic Empowerment (WEE). TDAP shared its updates regarding TradeFacilitation Portal, the collaboration between TDAP and SMEDA, and TDAP’sB2B portal.
The concept paper on the e-Commerce portal prepared by ADB was alsoapproved.
The Mercantile Exchange Department gave a presentation on Pakistan’s firstand only multi-commodity futures exchange, “Global Commodities TradingPlatform” (GCTP) that will be functional this year, and increase the exportby providing a complete suite of services, i.e., Trading,clearing/settlement, and custodial services under one roof.
The Punjab Consumer Protection Council presented the “ComplaintRegistration Portal,” which will be operational in two to three months. Itwill be a facilitative forum for the complainant, from the complaint to thedecision communication.
The Ministry of IT representatives informed that Data Protection Bill hasbeen consulted with all the relevant stakeholders and is now with theMinister.——————————
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The NeCC was also briefed on the cloud policy and cybersecurity policyformulation that is in process.
National e-Commerce Council is a body of representatives from the publicand private sector, constituted under the National e-Commerce Policyapproved by the Federal Cabinet in October 2019.
The main objective of NeCC is to develop effective collaboration with allrelevant sectors for the practical implementation of the e-Commerce Policy.The first, second, and third meetings of NeCC were held in January andJune, and September 2020, respectively.
This fourth meeting was attended by members from the public and privatesectors.
