KARACHI: The absence of any guidelines to assess the Customs values on the import of power contact lenses has left the Customs authorities in a fix to assess their value.
This is obvious from a letter sent to Additional Director of Customs Valuation by Deputy Collector Customs Irum Sohail. The letter citing
Valuation Ruling No. 633/2014 says that the Valuation Ruling issued earlier by the Directorate General of Customs Valuation are
neither applicable on power contact lenses nor prescribe any guideline for the same.
The letter citing the problem says that the contact lenses imports in the instant case are power contact lenses having power 0.75, 1.00, 2.25, 5.75, 6.00, 7.00 and 8.00 as well as BC 9.60 diameter expiry in February 2019 and Valuation Ruling No. 633/2014 is neither applicable nor it provides any guideline for valuation of power contact lenses.
The latest Valuation Ruling No. 681/2014 dated September 3, 2014 determined the customs values of contact lenses without power from various origins only and not the imports of power contact lenses.
The letter asks the Directorate of Customs Valuation to issue the valuation ruling/assessable valuation of power contact lenses at the
earliest for finalisation of provisional assessment in term of Section 81 of the Customs Act 1969 well before the period as established by the date.
The date that the letter seemingly refers to 90-day extension by the Collector Customs from September 14, 2014, when the finalisation of the provisional assessment in term of Section 81(1) of the Customs Act 1969 was expired.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the stakeholders, including the trade associations, importers and manufacturers were held at the Directorate General of Customs Valuation at Custom House, Karachi on Monday to help the directorate assess the customs values on the imports of all kinds of batteries.
Another such meeting to discuss the values of old/used imported spare parts of cars scheduled on the same day was cancelled. The meeting is expected to be held again shortly.
