KARACHI: The Director General of the Directorate General Customs Valuation Samaira Nazir Khan has rejected a Review Petition through Order in Revision No.114 /2015 under section 25-D of the Customs Act, 1969 against Amendment to Valuation Ruling No.716/2012 dated 11-02-2015.
This revision petition was filed under section 25-D of the Customs Act, 1969 against customs value determined vide Valuation Ruling No.716/2015 dated 10-02-2015 issued under section 25-A of the Customs Act, 1969 inter alia on the following grounds, as reproduced below;
“In order to determine value of PC Stranded wire, Ruling No.716/15 dated 10-02-2015 was issued superseding Ruling No.370/2011. While, issuing ruling No.716/2015, many important facts have been missed. It is requested that you please reconsider he said ruling in light of the facts given below:
Our association represents all the manufacturers of PC Strand in Pakistan. We were not invited to the proceedings. When we contacted the authorities an invitation was sent to us for a meeting to be held on 4th February, 2015. Due to non availability in Pakistan of our concerned member, it was requested to delay the meeting for a few days. Our request was not heeded and ruling was issued on 10th February without hearing our point of view.
The formula given in the ruling to determine value of PC strand misses that PC strand is manufactured from High carbon steel wire rod. Steel wire rod prices are determined as per Ruling No.693/14 dated 26th September, 2014. In order to reach the value of High carbon wire rod USD66.00 has to be added to the value of low carbon wire rod. The said ruling for PC strand does not add USD66.00 to the formula.
Processing charges have been taken at USD225.00 PMT. This is low.
In light of the above it is requested that the Ruling No.716/15 may please be reviewed in the best interest of Trade & Industry.”
The respondent department was asked to furnish comments to the arguments submitted by the petitioner in this case. The comments on the arguments of the petitioners are given as under:
“It is briefly submitted that the Customs values of PC Stranded Wire was previously determined vide Valuation Ruling No.370 dated 25-08-2011, which was revised after process of investigation and meeting held with stakeholders. The importers had agitated against the previous ruling stating that the basis of price of raw material decided vide Valuation Ruling 360 dated 02-08-2011, was since withdrawn by the Department vide letter dated 27-01-2012, the instant ruling on Stranded Wire also warrant same action or suitable revision may be considered. The valuation matter for revision of instant VR was however processed and the stakeholders were called for their input. The representation from local manufacturers was also received and agitated against the low declarations and recommended consideration of LME price, (raw material i.e. wire rod- mesh quality) which was in the range of $1.01 to $1.05/kg. The manufacturers had recommended the previous prices, while the importers had agitated on the point of decline of metal prices in the international market. It is submitted that the valuation of subject goods has always been decided in the light of international prices of Wire Rod (mesh quality) as reflected in LMB London Metal Bulletin.
The order stated that this Revision Petition was filed against Valuation Ruling No.716/2015 dated 10.02.2015 regarding valuation of PC Stranded Wire. It was fixed for hearing on 07.05.2015, which was attended by Mr.Fawad J.Saeed, Executive Director of the petitioners. He presented a written statement dated 07.05.2015 containing additional arguments and requested for consideration of the same alongwith memo of petition on the following grounds;- that the issue was decided without hearing their point of view.- that the previous formula in the determination was ignored in the impugned ruling.
In her order Director General Samaira Nazir Khan stated that she had examined the petitioners’ submissions and have also gone through the facts of the case on record. It has been observed that due chances were given by the Respondent but no response was received from the petitioner. As regards the basis of impugned ruling, the determined customs value was based upon prices of Wire Rod mesh quality as reflected in LME and the Department has given justifying reasons for value additions on account of draw quality and conversion cost / freight charges.
It seems that the price determination has been opposed by the petitioners but no valid document has been given in support of their contention to disregard the impugned ruling.
Furthermore, regarding the value addition of $66, the Departmental representative has refuted the contention on the ground that instant ruling was not issued on the basis of Valuation Ruling No.693/2014.
In the impugned valuation ruling, detail of proceedings has been mentioned by the Respondent to justify the issuance of the same, which was based upon scrutiny of data and sequential consideration of valuation methods as defined under the provisions of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969. The conclusion drawn under section 25(9) of the Customs Act, 1969, as referred in the preceding paragraph, seems to have been well substantiated by the Department and indicative of valid application of law in the issuance of the impugned ruling.
The order further stated that in view of the foregoing conclusion, I do not find any sustainability in the submission made by the petitioners and the petition is thus rejected which lacks merit.