The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) has demanded of the chairman CBR to take prompt and consistent action to curb mis-declaration and under-invoicing as these two things are damaging the local industry badly. The demand was raised by the LCCI Senior Vice President Sohail Lashari while talking the Director General Valuation (CBR) Abdul Wadood Khan here on Saturday. The meeting was also attended by former LCCI presidents Sheikh Muhammad Asif, Mian Anjum Nisar, executive committee members Aftab Vohra, Irfan Qaisar and Sheikh Muhammad Younas, says a spokesman of the chamber here on Saturday.
The DG Valuation assured that CBR is ready to take stringent measures against mis-declaration and under-invoicing as both falls in the category of smuggling. The LCCI senior vice president also urged the CBR to set up Valuation Collectorate in Lahore equipped with the latest computer system on the pattern of Karachi.
Sohail Lashari said that the step was necessary, as the assessment of goods is not being done according to the provision of Section 25 at Lahore. The customs officials are not accepting transaction value declared by importer at Lahore and insisting to match it with data provided by Karachi Collectorate and the data available in Karachi Customs is also very old. The latest data available in Karachi is for the month of November 2004 which could not reflects true picture as in the last four months prices of many goods have been reduced.
Sohail Lashari said that the business community had been pointing out since long that customs duty of prime quality is charged on the chemicals imported in secondary form and to support the local industry, government should fix ITP on the import of scrap and chemical. He said that in order to avoid ambiguity after the amendments of Statutory Regulatory Orders (SRO), a complete text of SRO should be released instead of amendments only.
He said that Pakistan's industrial sector passing through a very difficult time and is facing number of issues. To count a few amongst them are high utility rates, numerous inspecting agencies, law and order situation, multiplicity and duplicity of taxes and above all unjust competition faced by our local products with the smuggled and under invoiced items. He said that low priced Chinese products available in Pakistan have disturbed our manufacturing base. Pakistan borders with China and Afghanistan is the worst examples of letting unchecked goods enter into the country and destroying our local industry. He said that product like shoes, plastic products, auto parts and tyres, readymade garments, steel, electronic and electrical goods and almost every consumer product are flooded in our markets. Mis-declaration/under-invoicing of goods in value, the quantitative and qualitative aspect, both are important issues hitting industrial base. In order to check such practices, we need to rationalise the duty structure vis-a-vis raw materials, compliance of law under Gatt Code of Valuation and assessment of value of the products in view of the type and value of raw material used.
Sohail Lashari said that the import of finished goods should be monitored to ensure that these are not cleared at the price lower than the price of raw material. Moreover, the aspect of value addition should also be taken into account while assessing the value of finished goods. He said that the statutory laws should be reviewed and revised in consultation with the business community to eliminate the root cause of under invoicing and mis-declaration. He said that valuation department has been empowered to evaluate duty on imported goods under section 25 of the Customs Act 1969. Now director of customs valuation and DG customs valuation can exercise powers under section 25 and section 32 to curb under invoicing and mis-declaration. Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI Vice President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad raised the issue of paper prices.
He said that hike in paper prices is creating a crisis like situation and this needs government attention. He also urged the DG valuation to take proper measures to face the challenges of Safta, which was going to be operational next year.
Comments
Comments are closed.