Guides · Restricted goods
The list you found only tells you what was true the day it was written.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
Pakistan's Import Policy Order, 2022 puts every good into one of three standings, not two. Banned means the heading sits in Appendix A and no authority can let it through under this Order. Restricted means Appendix B, and the good can be imported once a stated condition is met — an NOC, a licence, an approval from a named department. Conditionally importable covers goods like used and second-hand plant, machinery and equipment under Appendix C, where the import is allowed only for certain sectors or only against a further step such as a pre-shipment inspection. None of this is fixed. The Ministry of Commerce amends the Order by SRO several times a year, so the only reliable check is the current Order against your PCT heading, not a list saved from a search result.
Three standings, not one list
"Banned" gets used loosely for anything the government has a problem with, and that flattens a distinction that matters. The Import Policy Order, 2022 recognises three different standings, and an item's practical position — whether you can import it at all, and what it costs you in paperwork — depends on which one it falls into.
Banned is absolute. Restricted is a condition, not a refusal. Conditionally importable sits in between: usually goods that are banned in general but allowed for a specific sector or a specific use, once a further step is satisfied.
What each standing actually means
| Standing | Where it sits | What changes your position |
|---|---|---|
| Banned | Appendix A | Nothing. The heading cannot be imported under the current Order at all |
| Restricted | Appendix B | The condition named against that heading — commonly an NOC or approval from a specific department |
| Conditionally importable | Appendix C | A further requirement beyond the standard declaration — for used or second-hand plant and machinery, this is often restricted to specific sectors and tied to a pre-shipment inspection by a company named in Appendix D |
Why the PDF you found is already out of date
Every page ranking for this search is a document somebody downloaded once. Some are still labelled 2023. The Order they are quoting is real — it is the Import Policy Order, 2022 — but the copy is not, because the Ministry of Commerce amends it by SRO on a rolling basis, not on a yearly schedule anyone can plan around.
It notified an amendment in September 2025, another in April 2026, and two more in July 2026. A heading that was banned when a blog post was written can be open by the time you read it, and a heading that was open can just as easily have picked up a new condition. The direction of the change is not predictable from outside the Ministry.
How to check the position that is actually current
Fix the PCT heading
Every appendix is organised by 8-digit Pakistan Customs Tariff heading. A product description is not enough to check anything against the Order.
Go to the Ministry of Commerce's own SRO record
Not a forum post, not a trade directory, not a PDF that has been sitting on a hard drive. The base Order plus every amending SRO issued since is the only complete picture.
Read the condition, not just the heading
A heading in Appendix B or C is not a yes-or-no. The condition attached to it — the department, the certificate, the inspection — is the part that determines whether the import is workable at all.
Confirm it again at filing, not only at ordering
The Pakistan Single Window checks the declared PCT code against the Order in force on the day the declaration is filed. A position confirmed when the order was placed can have moved by the time the goods arrive.
We are not going to give you a list of banned items on this page. A list we published today would be exactly the stale document this page is arguing against — accurate in September 2026 and quietly wrong by the time somebody found it in a search a year from now. The honest version of this page is the mechanism, not a snapshot, even though a list is what most people came looking for.
Questions
What importers ask about banned and restricted goods
Contact
Tell us what is coming.
Give us the product, the port and roughly when the vessel is due, and we will tell you what the clearance involves and what it will cost.