KARACHI: Director General Customs Valuation Syed Tanvir Ahmad has said that the Directorate General of Customs Valuation is trying hard to protect local market which is badly affected by under valuation of the imported goods.
During an exclusive interview with Customs Today, the Director General said that the Customs Valuation Department gives priority to the local manufactured items. He said that the department has conducted several surveys and found that some industries were struggling to survive as the importers were paying less duty and taxes on imported items through under-valuations. He said that the local industry could not compete in prices with the imported goods. In this regard, the Valuation Department raises the value of a large number of items like garments, shoes, rubber thread, soap, cosmetics, shampoos, ceramics tiles, egg powder, yarn, artificial silk cloths, stationary, medium density fiberboard, motorcycle parts, potato chips, honey, biscuits, mobile accessories, I.V Cannula (syringes), cosmetics, toys, etc. A number of others items are being reviewed so that the value can be can be raised.
In the past the Directorate General of Customs Valuation used to only issue valuation rulings of the different items on the other hand a Valuation Data Base is also being developed. Almost 100 items have been added in the Valuation Data Base (VDB). Besides this the valuation rulings are also being issued separately. Our endeavor is to fix values of around 1000 sensitive items, which will significantly boost the revenue.
He said that it was certainly a lengthy procedure of determining the Customs value of any item, as before doing this, the Customs authorities concerned are applying “work-back method”, contacting the stakeholders, fix meetings, serve notices, scan data after collecting it and then decide values of the imported items.
The Director General said that the Valuation Data Base has been connected with the WeBOC system and now a pop up screen opens up as soon as relevant PCT heading is opened by the Appraising Officer, which displays the VDB values. The WEBOC system is being made more better and in case if any trader files wrong data then the system will generate an alert to the all the officers concern. He informed that the WeBOC software is one of the best in the world and the Valuation department along with the other concern departments are working on it to further increase its performance.
All Valuation Data Base items have been uploaded in the system and are facilitating the concerned authorities on a single click. The Valuation Data Base values are determined through market inquiries, International Website as well as other countries export data etc.
Syed Tanvir Ahmad further said that the Customs Valuation department has tremendously increased the valuation ruling and Data Base Values from 100 to 400 per cent in a large number of items which resulted in enhancement of duty and taxes. The quantum of duty and taxes went up from Rs15,00,000 to Rs50,00,000 per container which is a record.
Responding to a question the Director General Customs Valuation Syed Tanvir Ahmad informed that he is also planning to establish a Valuation Hall which shall continuously feed the International values in the Valuation Data Base (VDB) after adjustments. The priority in future will be to link the values with the international values rather than fixation of values as we have already done in case of metal prices which have been linked with London Metal Bulletin prices. But this requires equipment, manpower and budget for subscription of various websites for which a request has been sent to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
He emphasized need for some special arrangements and techniques to curb crime being done through under invoicing. Director General Customs Valuation Syed Tanvir Ahmed suggested that strict laws are must to control under invoicing; huge penalty should be imposed against the culprits involved in the heinous crimes.
He further said that participation of Industry, which is an important stakeholder in the process of determination of the valuation Rulings / Valuation Database is relatively less. The stakeholders on both sides, i.e. trade and industry, are requested several times to send their proposals for immediate redressal, wherever required. The proposals may include detailed description of imported goods, their specifications / kinds / mode of packing / brands etc, and values may be suggested by providing justification.
