FBR Orders Textile Mills to Install Cameras by November 15

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has instructed all registered textile spinning units to install video surveillance cameras on machinery processing natural, man-made and blended fibres by November 15, 2026, extending electronic production monitoring beyond cotton bales.

The directive was issued through Sales Tax General Order No. 30 of 2026 on October 23. It covers cotton, polyester, viscose, wool and acrylic fibres processed in loose, opened or other non-bale forms.

Issued under Section 40C(2) of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, and relevant provisions of the Sales Tax Rules, 2006, the order takes immediate effect and supplements the surveillance requirements introduced under Sales Tax General Order No. 08 of 2025.

Under the new rules, spinning units must install cameras at designated points along their blow room, opening and blending lines to electronically monitor fibres entering the production process.

The specified locations include hopper bale openers and feeders where loose or opened fibres are manually fed into machinery, weighing and blending feeders handling natural and man-made fibres, and blow room lines processing polyester, viscose and acrylic.

The surveillance requirements also extend to waste-opening and recycling lines that process soft waste, comber noil, card flat strips and recycled fibres. Mixing and laydown areas, where loose fibres are stored or blended before processing, must also be covered.

The FBR has directed registered spinning units to complete the necessary arrangements, including the installation of required hardware and software, by November 15.

Additional Responsibilities for Technology Vendors

The order also imposes further obligations on vendors previously authorised by the FBR to provide electronic production monitoring systems.

These vendors must integrate their video analytics solutions with the newly installed cameras and ensure the systems can detect, count and quantify fibres entering production in loose, opened or other non-bale forms.

The monitoring infrastructure must record production activities in real time, gather data through object detection and counting, and transmit the information to the FBR's Central Control Unit for storage and archiving.

The systems must also identify unexpected production stoppages, conduct quantitative production analysis and generate data analytics that can support legal action where necessary.

The latest directive broadens the electronic monitoring framework introduced in November 2025, which initially covered cotton bales, to include additional fibre-processing operations at textile spinning facilities.

The FBR clarified that Sales Tax General Order No. 08 of 2025 would remain in force, with the new requirements operating alongside the existing monitoring arrangements.

The notification was approved by the FBR's Member Inland Revenue Operations and signed by Second Secretary Khalid Mehmood.