Directorate General Customs Valuation (DGCV) has revised the customs values of chewing gum and mint under sub-section (7) of the section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969.
According to details, earlier the customs values of chewing gum were determined through valuation ruling No. 1000 in 2016. However, various representations were received from the importers for re-determination of the customs value of said goods. Therefore, an exercise was initiated by the Directorate to re-determine the customs values of chewing gum and mints.
For the purpose, the meetings with stakeholders, including importers and representatives from field formations, were held in March, July and September 2018 to discuss the current international prices of the subject goods.
Meanwhile, the importers of Wrigley's brand stated that values already determined were correctly reflecting transaction values while certain other brands importers requested to include their items in the ruling and presented documents in support of their contentions.
The importer of Batook brand claimed that customs values already determined in the existing Ruling were high and contended that this brand was being brought into our country from illegal means, causing loss to the exchequer.
Later, the Directorate applied the valuation methods provided in section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 in their regular sequential order to address the particular valuation issue at hand. The transaction value method as provided in sub-section (1) of section 25, was found inapplicable in light of the wide variety of declared values at import stage, hence requisite information required under law was not available to arrive at the correct transaction value.
The similar goods value method provided vide sub-sections (5) & (6) of section 25 ibid was examined for applicability to determine customs value of subject goods. This data provided some references however it was found that the same cannot be solely relied upon.
In line with the statutory sequential order of section 25, the Directorate then conducted market inquiries using deductive value method under sub-section (7) of the section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 and determined customs values of chewing gum and mints accordingly.