KARACHI: The Directorate General of Customs Valuation revised the customs value of inedible tallow through Valuation Ruling No 1128/2017 under Section 25A of the Customs Act, 1969.
The Directorate General earlier applied audit-checks on clearance values and found unexplained variations in declared values of subject goods. As an interim measure VDB letter No, 225/2017 dated 01-03-2017 was circulated, and the matters allied to import value of inedible tallow were subjected to further analysis.
The Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association informed of the various international pricing dynamics (mentioned below) and it was accordingly deemed expedient to issue a Valuation Ruling for uniformity and to check any discriminatory trends at clearances stage. Therefore, an exercise was conducted to determine Customs values of tallow in line with current price trends in the international market.
Meetings for determination of customs values of tallow were held on 22-03-2017 & 30-03-2017 which was duly attended by all stakeholders, including representatives of importers and manufacturers. The current international prices of the subject goods were discussed with the stakeholders and they requested that the values current VDB letter No. 225/2017 dated 01-03-2017 be reviewed in the light of prevailing international.
The Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association contended that a determination of assessable import values for subject goods under section 25A of the Customs Act. 1969 would be fruitless for the origins like Australia, UK and the USA as from these origins the import values are being declared as per the FOB prices published by international Public Ledger.
Furthermore, they claimed that tallow from India is covered under the SAFTA. The said association further stated that tallow from the remaining origins like Philippines, Thailand, UAE and other Middle Eastern countries is of inferior qualities and the values for these origins may be determined under the law. The view points of all participants were heard in detail and considered to arrive at e assessable values of subject goods from various countries.
