July 27, 2021: CODE PAKISTAN in collaboration with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), U.S., organized a two-day regional training on “Mainstreaming ADR for Equitable Access to Justice in Pakistan” at Serena Hotel in Islamabad. The two-day training was attended by senior-level officers of the Pakistan Customs and the Inland Revenue Services (IRS) from Islamabad. It was the fifth of a series of trainings being conducted on ADR for FBR officers throughout the country. The objective of the training was to raise awareness and build the capacity of tax officers from Islamabad to provide support to citizens in the quick and efficient resolution of tax disputes by using effective methods of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
A distinguished panel of local trainers were engaged to conduct the trainings through the use of available literature, international case studies, and personal examples arising from academic and professional experiences. The programme also offered a contextual perspective of the existing ADR legislation in Pakistan with attention to its implementation, development, benefits, reasons for lack of success, and potential way forward in light of the aforementioned.
The second day of the training included a consultative process in which FBR officials contributed their input to the development of a preliminary framework for the effective implementation of ADR practices in Pakistan’s tax regime. International subject-matter experts were also engaged in the process to provide their expertise on the development of such a framework from the perspective of international best practices. The framework document has been evolving since the first of the FBR trainings on ADR with recommendations garnered from provincial FBR officers. The completed document is intended to assist and enable FBR in the effective implementation of ADR practices in tax disputes in Pakistan.
The panel of trainers included Advocate High Court, Dr. Tariq Masood, and Mediator and Barrister-at-law, Mr. Bahadur Bokhari. The international subject-matter experts included Mediator and Supreme Court Justice of the Republic of Slovenia, Ms. Nina Betetto and, President of the European Centre for Dispute Resolution and Former Minister of Justice of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Aleš Zalar.
The training session concluded with a few words of appreciation from the President of CODE PAKISTAN, Mr. Dilawar Khan who thanked the attending FBR officers from Islamabad for their participation in the two-day training on Mainstreaming ADR for Equitable Access to Justice in Pakistan.