ISLAMABAD: Directorate General of Customs Valuation Karachi has revised customs values on the import of stationery items from China, Vietnam, Europe, Japan, USA and Canada for accurate assessment of duties and taxes.

In this connection, the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) directorate has issued a new valuation ruling.

According to the sources, the directorate has made an attempt to bring values of the stationery items close to the actual market values in the international market. Earlier the values were artificially very high which have now been brought close to the actual market values. Now the actual transactional values are expected to be applicable on the import of stationery items from different countries.

According to the ruling, the customs values of stationery items were determined under Section 25A of the Customs Act, 1969, vide Valuation Ruling No. 1598/2022. The valuation ruling was set aside vide Order in Revision No. 47/2022 under Section 25D of the Act, with the directions to re-determine the customs values of subject items under Section 25A of the Act, especially in line with the prevalent international prices. In view of the foregoing, an exercise was under taken by the Directorate General of Customs Valuation to re-determine the customs values of subject goods in terms of Section 25A of the Customs Act.

A meeting was held which was attended by various stakeholders including the representatives of trade bodies, importers as well as representatives of Clearance Collectorates. All the participants were requested to submit necessary documents so that correct customs values could be determined.

The data provided some references; however, if was found that the same could not be solely relied upon due to absence of absolute demonstrable evidence of qualities and quantities of commercial level etc. Information available was, hence, found inappropriate.

In line with the statutory sequential order of section 25, the directorate conducted market inquiries for using deductive value methods under sub-section (7) of Section 25 of the Customs Act. Finally, reliance had to be made on sub Section (7) of Section 25 of the Customs Act, to determine customs values of the subject goods, the ruling added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022