Guides · Tariff
The tariff is not one list — it is a set of schedules, and it changes every budget.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
The Pakistan Customs Tariff is the First Schedule to the Customs Act, 1969: ninety-nine chapters of goods, each carrying an 8-digit PCT code and the duty against it. It is not static — it is amended by the Finance Act at every budget, and by SRO in between, so the tariff for 2026-27 is not the same document as last year's, even where a heading's number has not moved. The Federal Board of Revenue publishes the current version, and that is the only version worth reading. What follows is how it is put together, not a copy of the numbers in it.
One tariff, redrawn every year
Every June, the Finance Bill amends the Customs Act, and with it the First Schedule — the tariff itself. Some years the change is a handful of headings. Some years it is a rewrite of entire chapters as part of a multi-year tariff rationalisation. Either way, the version that mattered in June is not guaranteed to be the version in force by the time a shipment actually lands.
Rates also move between budgets, by statutory regulatory order, without waiting for the next Finance Act. A tariff line copied from a downloaded PDF, a spreadsheet passed around a trading office, or a search result cached months ago can be out of date and still look exactly like the current one.
This page is about the shape of the tariff — the schedules, and how a line inside it is put together. For what a specific line actually charges, the only place worth checking is the Federal Board of Revenue's own published tariff for the year in force.
What each schedule to the Customs Act does
| Schedule | What it covers |
|---|---|
| First Schedule | The Pakistan Customs Tariff itself — every chapter, heading and 8-digit PCT line, with the duty rate against each one. This is what people mean by "the tariff." |
| Second Schedule | Omitted from the Act since 2012. Earlier editions used it to list goods carrying a separate export regulatory duty; that mechanism no longer sits here. |
| Third Schedule | Not a duty schedule. It lists the matters the Board can make rules on — drawback, transshipment, baggage, the Authorized Economic Operator programme — under its general rule-making power. |
| Fourth Schedule | Omitted from the Act since 1981. |
| Fifth Schedule | Concessionary rates for specified plant, machinery and equipment, by sector, each entry carrying its own conditions and limitations. A machine can qualify for a Fifth Schedule rate and still be assessed under the First Schedule if it does not meet the condition attached to it. |
Finding the line that applies
The First Schedule is arranged in sections, each holding a run of chapters covering related goods, from live animals at chapter 1 through to works of art at chapter 97. Every chapter opens with its own notes, and the notes decide what the chapter includes and excludes before you ever reach a heading.
Inside the chapter, a heading narrows the class of goods, a subheading narrows it again to the six-digit level set by the international Harmonized System, and Pakistan's own two digits on top of that fix the actual tariff line — the one the duty rate and any regulatory condition are written against.
Once you have the line, check it against three things: the First Schedule rate itself, whether a regulatory duty has been layered on top of that heading by a separate notification, and whether the goods qualify for a Fifth Schedule concession instead. All three can apply to the same PCT code depending on the shipment.
One figure worth knowing, because it is fixed in the Act itself
Unlike the duty on any given heading, this ceiling is set in the Customs Act and does not move with the annual tariff revision.
- Regulatory dutyUp to 100% of assessed valueon goods specified by federal notification, on top of the First Schedule rate · Customs Act, 1969, section 18(3)
Checked 13 September 2026 against Federal Board of Revenue — The Customs Act, 1969. Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.
A tariff line you send us as a screenshot or a saved PDF is a starting point, not a confirmed rate. We check it against what is actually in force before we file, and if it has moved since whatever you were looking at, we will tell you that rather than assess against the old figure because it is what you were expecting.
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