Key Takeaways
- Regulatory duty on premium smartphones above $500 reduced by 20%.
- Additional Customs Duty cut from 6% to 4% for all smartphone categories.
- Tariff changes aimed at reducing import duty burden while promoting domestic manufacturing.
The government of Pakistan has announced significant reductions in regulatory and additional customs duties on imported smartphones for the fiscal year 2026-27, according to a commerce ministry brief.
For premium smartphones priced above $500, the regulatory duty has been slashed from Rs22,000 to Rs17,600 per unit, marking a 20% reduction.
Across all smartphone and cellular-phone categories, the Additional Customs Duty (ACD) has been reduced from 6% to 4%, while regulatory duty has also been lowered.
For completely built-up (CBU) smartphones, the new regulatory duty (RD) slabs are: Up to $30: Rs240, down from Rs300; $30-$100: Rs2,400, down from Rs3,000; $100-$200: Rs6,000, down from Rs7,500; $200-$350: Rs8,800, down from Rs11,000; $350-$500: Rs12,000, down from Rs15,000; Above $500: Rs17,600, down from Rs22,000.
The Ministry of Commerce stated that these reductions were made under the FY2026-27 Budget as part of broader tariff rationalisation under the National Tariff Policy 2025-30.
Pakistan’s mobile-phone imports saw a significant increase in FY2025-26, with total imports of smartphones and cellular phones rising from $1.497 billion to $1.888 billion, while CBU smartphone imports more than doubled to $357.7 million.
The ministry noted that the Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy 2020-25 has expired, and a new policy has yet to be approved by the federal government. However, incentives available to mobile manufacturers and assemblers under the expired policy remain protected under the Fifth Schedule of the Customs Act, 1969.
The tariff cuts are expected to reduce the duty burden on imported handsets while the government simultaneously seeks to promote domestic mobile-device assembly and manufacturing.
