KARACHI: The Directorate General of Customs Valuation has revised the customs value of citric acid through Valuation Ruling No 1015/2016 under Section 25-A of the Customs Act, 1969.
The values of the citric acid for reference/guidance were earlier determined vide Valuation Data Base letter No.157 issued on January 12, 2017. There were several representations from different importers/ traders and trade bodies i.e. Pakistan Chemicals and Dyes Merchants Association (PCDMA), for determination of customs value of the citric acid afresh.
The importers have claimed that the prices of Citric Acid are showing downward trend in the international market, hence an exercise was initiated to re-determine the values of citric acid.
Meeting with all the stakeholders including importers, trade bodies i.e. Pakistan Chemicals and Dyes Merchants Association (PCDMA) and representatives from clearance Collectorates was held on 18.01.2017 to discuss the current international prices of the Citric Acid.
The view point of all participants was heard in detail and considered to arrive at Customs value for citric acid valuation methods provided in Sect on 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 were duly applied 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, found inapplicable in light of the wide variety of invoices submitted at import stage the veracity of which could not be ascertained fully, hence requisite information required under law was not available to arrive at the correct transaction value.
Identical goods value method provided vide Sub-Sections (5) & (6) of Section 25 ibid were 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 due to the absence of absolute demonstrable evidence of qualities, and quantities of commercial level etc.
