Customs value of mobile phone's LCD screens revised

Directorate General Customs Valuation (DGCV) has revised customs values of mobile phone LCD screens under sub-section 7 of section 25-A of the Customs Act 1969. According to details, the Directorate had earlier issued valuation ruling 908 in 2016 for mobile phones accessories but it did not include the customs values of LCD screens of cell phones.

Keeping the said in view, the MCC Appraisement West and MCC Islamabad have sent references regarding under-invoicing of mobile phones LCD screens and requested the DGCV to issue a separate valuation ruling under section 25-A of the Customs Act, 1969.

For the purpose, the meetings with the stakeholders were convened in August and October 2019. The importers during meeting submitted Performa invoices, EIF forms, declaration, etc to prove their contention that their declared values were correct. In addition, it was also informed that all mobile phones LCD screens were being imported in different form for smart phones and feature phones. The LCD screens for smart phones are imported in two parts - glass and LCD and with technical process and both parts are combined to make LCD screen ready for use and onward sale. On the other hand, LCD screens for all feature phones are imported in ready to use form. Later the Directorate has applied deductive value method under sub-section 7 of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 to ascertain the assessable customs values of the subject goods. For Air Freight Unit (AFU) shipments, actual air freight will be added to the above for values. However, minimum assessable value after adding air freight should be less than US$ 7 per kilogram.