7.5. THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT REGULATION AND POLICIES One of the key regulatory roles performed by agencies like EDB, Customs, Ministry of Industries, etc, is for access to concessionary SROs for imports. Table 7.9 indicates the extent of contact of sample vendors with these agencies. The units surveyed have also indicated that it took them an average of almost 20 days to clear goods from the customs. Formal vendors took 25 days, while the informal ones took 9 days. Further, over 88 percent of the responding firms were registered with the Sales Tax Department of the FBR.