Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has proposed that valuation rulings issued by the Directorate General of Valuation Karachi must be applied by all Collectorate of customs in Pakistan because at present many products are assessed at different values by various Collectorates. "Each Collectorate of customs follows different database values for same products and items. This creates hardship to imports, due to lack of uniformity in assessment of goods. It leads to corruption and mis-declaration of goods and loss of revenues," said the FPCCI statement.
It further noted that at present valuation rulings U/S 25A were issued after a considerable delay, revision of valuation ruling under section 25D of Custom Act 1969, by the director general customs valuation took a very long time, valuation rulings were issued on pick and choose basis, copies of valuation ruling were not forwarded to the applicant of valuation ruling and stake holders and valuation ruling contained errors.
"The Directorate of Customs should issue valuation ruling within 30 days of the receipt of application and necessary amendment be made in section 25A to incorporate specified time," proposed the FPCCI adding that revision of valuation rulings might be decided within 90 days of receipt of the revised petition from the stake holder.
It further proposed that necessary amendment might be made in the section 25D to incorporate specified tome of 90 days. In the absence of revised ruling, the declared value must be accepted as mandatory.
It also made following proposals:
-- Each application for issuance of valuation ruling should be serially numbered, valuation ruling may be issued on first in first out (FIFO) basis and not at discretion.
-- Final draft rulings may be shown to the applicant and stake-holders before issuance, to avoid erroneous valuation rulings.
-- Copies of valuation ruling may be forwarded to the applicants and stakeholders who have attended the meeting for determination of value and to all the collectorate of customs of Pakistan and check points.
-- Rulings must be exhibited online to maintain transparency in assessment at all custom stations of the country. The FPCCI was of the view that by applying these suggestions uniform valuation system would be applicable to all custom collectorate and custom check posts and it would help eliminate corruption, under-invoicing and mis-declaration and discretionary powers of assessing officers.