Survey for Documentation of National Economy Ordinance, 2000

This Ordinance was issued in 2000 to address widespread non-reporting and under-reporting of assets, income, and taxable business activity in Pakistan, by creating a formal mechanism for door-to-door economic surveys. It was promulgated while the National Assembly and Senate stood suspended following the 1999 Proclamation of Emergency.

Section 2 lets the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) form survey teams of any size, drawing on staff from CBR-related departments as well as other federal and provincial departments, utility agencies, autonomous bodies, development authorities, cooperative housing societies, and municipal bodies; members of the Armed Forces were also required to take part in all survey and registration activity.

Section 3 required survey teams to use prescribed questionnaires (set out in Schedules to the Ordinance) to collect information, which would then count as official information for assessing tax liability, turnover, or value under tax laws administered by the CBR. Every person given a questionnaire was legally bound to fill it in accurately within the time allowed. A later-added provision also treated stock declarations already made in a person's 2000 income tax return as equivalent information where applicable.

Section 4 made it a punishable offence to refuse or fail to provide the requested information, or to provide false information, carrying imprisonment up to three months, a fine up to twenty-five thousand rupees, or both; companies and their responsible officers could also be held liable. Section 5 (as later amended) restricted trial of these offences to an Executive Magistrate of the first class, using summary trial procedure. Section 6 clarified that the Ordinance added to, rather than replaced, other laws.

This Ordinance reflects a specific, time-bound national economic documentation drive from the year 2000, and its practical, active use is likely limited to that historical exercise; however, the underlying survey mechanism, penalties, and rule-making powers remain part of the formal legal text unless separately repealed.