ISLAMABAD: The Directorate General of Customs Valuation, Karachi has raised customs values on the import of toffees, candies and sugar confectionary items from China, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Turkey, Europe and USA.
According to a new customs valuation ruling issued by the directorate, the customs value of toffees, candies and sugar confectionary items was determined under Section 25A of the Customs Act, 1969 vide Valuation Ruling No1220/2017 dated 10-11-2017. The Valuation Ruling was more than four years old; therefore, it needed to be revised in accordance with the current market values of the subject goods and the freight element, which had changed significantly.
The import values were observed to be on lower side vis-a-vis international selling prices (available online) and also on lower side in comparison to the local market prices of subject goods.
In order to rationalise the import values of subject goods, an exercise was undertaken by the Directorate General of Customs Valuation to determine the Customs Values of subject goods in terms of Section 25A of Customs Act, 1969.
The stakeholders contended that the existing customs values are almost the same. It was further contended by the stakeholders that since subject goods are mainly being sold in high-end super/ general-stores, therefore, much more expenses (shelf rent, marketing costs, etc) are incurred at retail level which cannot be managed without adding extra value to the subject goods, hence, the prices get inflated in the retail market. The importers requested that such factors may be considered while determining value of the subject goods.
The stakeholders were requested to submit the relevant import documents. The conversion cost from the constituent material and allied expenses, at the country of export were not available for manufacturing of the subject goods. Finally, clearance data, market information and international prices through internet were examined thoroughly and the information so gathered were utilised and analysed for determination of customs values of the subject goods under Section 25 (9) of the Customs Act, 1969.
In cases where declared/transaction values are higher than the Customs values determined in this Ruling or higher evidential data is available of stipulated period of 90 days, the assessing officer shall apply those values in terms of Sub-Section 25(1) of Section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969.
In case of consignments imported by air, the assessing officer shall take into account the differential between air freight and sea freight, while applying the Customs values determined in this ruling, it added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022