Motorcycle spare parts import: APMSPIDA for waiver of 15 percent additional duty

All Pakistan Motorcycle Spare Parts Importers and Dealers Association (APMSPIDA) has proposed waiver of 15 percent additional duty imposed on import of motorcycle spare parts.
Chairman APMSPIDA, M Rehan Hanif in budget proposal for the year 2010-11 has sought the attention of the authorities to a serious and alarmingly growing problem of smuggling of motorcycle spare parts on massive scale from China through Sust border and Afghanistan.
Giving break-up of prevailing duty and taxes on motorcycles spare parts , he pointed out that prevailing duty and taxes include 35 percent custom duty, 15 percent additional duty, 18 percent sales tax, 4 percent income tax and one percent federal excise duty. In last few years the cost of motorcycle spare parts including customs duties increased by 100 percent.
He recommended that new import tariff of motorcycle spare parts should be as customs duty 15 percent, sales tax 18 percent, income tax 4 percent and FED one percent
He said that the only way to smash the smuggling trend and smugglers out of business is to cut in customs duty on commercial import of motorcycle spare parts. Additional; duty should be removed and maximum customs duty should be 15 percent.
Referring to section 25A of customs Act 1969, the chairman noted that powers to fix value of any imported goods at import stage in term of section 25A of custom Act-1969 is against the spirit of WTO agreement and causes increase of smuggling/illegal imports.
The chairman further noted that to keep high tariff just to protect the local industry is not workable anymore, as we have seen the result by doing this for the last 50 years. Pakistan's engineering industry has only 0.1 percent share of total world's business, which is 400 billion dollars.