The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has ordered steel manufacturers to install and activate a digital monitoring system by 30 December 2026. Sales Tax General Order No. 29 of 2026 establishes this requirement for all registered steel melters, re-rollers, and composite manufacturing units in Pakistan.
This technology enables the FBR to oversee production, record dispatches, and identify discrepancies between estimated output and the actual weight of goods leaving factories. The system tracks various production stages, including counting billets and ingots, verifying product sizes, classifying finished steel, and weighing outgoing shipments.
Manufacturers must record production dates, times, dimensions, estimated weights, vehicle registration numbers, and the gross, tare, and net weights of dispatched goods. Data from these units will be transmitted electronically to the FBR’s Central Control Unit for monitoring and reconciliation.
To comply, manufacturers must install industrial cameras, sensors, video analytics equipment, integrated weighbridges, and other required hardware and software. The required system must support automated counting, alerts, and controls to detect tampering.
ISSM Labelling Solutions and Obsidian have been named as the authorised vendors for the iron and steel sector. The FBR will not accept manual records, privately installed cameras, or standalone weighbridge entries as substitutes for the approved system.
Manufacturers are required to report system failures, equipment damage, tampering, or inactive production lines to the FBR, its Central Control Unit, and the relevant Commissioner Inland Revenue within one hour. A 30-day advance notice is mandatory for any changes to products, production lines, weighbridges, or dispatch processes that could affect the monitoring system.
Authorities may compare the monitoring information with tax returns, invoices, stock records, electricity consumption, and weighbridge data. Failure to operate the system, bypassing controls, concealing production lines, or removing goods without monitoring may invite action under the Sales Tax Act, 1990, and relevant rules.
The order has taken immediate effect.
