Directorate General Customs Valuation (DGCV) has revised the customs values of ball bearings and taper bearings under section 25(9) of the Customs Act, 1969. According to details, although the customs values of bearings were determined under section 25A of the Customs Act, 1969 in April 2017, the same were challenged before the Director General under section 25-D of the Customs Act, 1969 by different importers and Bearing Trade Group.
They contended that before issuing valuation ruling neither market inquiry was conducted nor their proposals, submitted during meetings, were considered. They claimed that the values in the impugned valuation ruling were very high and it was difficult for them to import ball bearings and taper bearings and compete in the market in the presence of smuggled goods.
Following the said grievances expressed by the importers, it has been ordered to re-determine the customs values for ball bearings and taper bearings within two weeks. Hence, this Directorate General re-initiated exercise for determination of customs values of ball bearings and taper bearings. For the purpose, the importers were requested to furnish the relevant documents before or during the course of meeting held on June 15, 2017.
The importers claimed that owing to increased valuation the shift towards illegal channels might take place. However, all stakeholders agreed with the observation of the Director General that there should be no categorization and the new valuation ruling should be origin based.
Resultantly, the Directorate General initiated its own investigation including market surveys for determination of customs values. As entire scheme of valuation ruling has been revisited in light of orders of the Director General, Category-A of China origin has been expanded with inclusion of other brands which were hitherto assessed under Category-B, resultantly changes in assessable values of other categories. The second impacting factor is creating separate serial numbers for taper bearings. Whatever could be done in two weeks was done to streamline the sector and reduce long standing litigation. The values have been determined after due process.
Later, all gathered information was evaluated and analyzed for the purpose of determination of customs values. Consequently, the customs values of ball bearings and taper bearings have been revised under Section 25(9) of the Customs Act, 1969.