RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Directorate General Customs Valuation (DGCV) has revised the Customs values of polyester/acrylic pile fabric for blankets under section 25(5) of the Customs Act, 1969.

According to the details, the Customs values of polyester/acrylic pile fabric for the blanket were earlier determined in November 2020. However, many importers and manufacturers of the blanket fabric have filed revision petitions under section 25D of the Act before DGCV. Accordingly, an exercise was undertaken to re-determine the Customs values of polyester/acrylic pile fabric for the blanket. For this purpose, the meeting was held with the stakeholders where they produced export goods declarations from China to show their point of view regarding their declared values.

The import clearance data obtained from PRAL and documents furnished by the stakeholders were examined to arrive at the Customs values of the subject goods.

The DGCV had earlier applied the valuation methods provided in section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 in their regular sequential order to arrive at Customs values of subject goods. The transaction value method as provided in sub-section (I) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 was found inapplicable due to the wide variation of values displayed in the import data. Moreover, importers/stakeholders attended the meeting and submitted import-related documents to prove their stance. Therefore, identical goods value methods provided in sub-sections (5) and (6) of Section 25 ibid were examined for applicability to the valuation issue in the instant case. Meanwhile, the local market survey under sub-section (7) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 could not be conducted to obtain the prices and work back the same under deductive valuation method as the subject goods are imported for manufacturing of blankets only and not for sale in the open market. The computed valuation method, as envisaged under sub-section (8) of section 25 ibid also could not be applied, as the cost of raw material and fabrication charges under clause (a) and amount of profit and general expenses under clause (b) of section 25(8) of the ibid Act, in the country of export, could not be ascertained. The online survey revealed that prices were negotiable and conditioned to the quantity and quality of the goods. All the available information was analyzed and evaluated. Later, the identical method provided under section 25(5) of the Customs Act, 1969 was applied to arrive at assessable Customs values of polyester/acrylic pile fabric for blanket.