Directorate General Customs Valuation (DGCV) has revised the customs value of different chemicals. According to revised valuation ruling, the customs values of chemicals namely Glycerin, Ammonium Bi Carbonate, Butyl Acrylate, Chlorinated Paraffin Wax (Liquid) and Calcium Carbide were earlier determined through valuation ruling no 1132 in 2017.
There were several representations from commercial importers, local manufacturers and from Pakistan Chemicals and Dyes Merchants Association (PCDMA) wherein they contended that customs values determined in the existing valuation ruling are not reflective of prices in international markets. Therefore, the Directorate has initiated an exercise for determination of the customs values of the subject Chemicals in terms of section 25-A of the Customs Act, 1969.
For the purpose, the meeting with stakeholders including importers, representatives from PCDMA and field formations was held to discuss the current international prices of the subject chemicals. All stakeholders requested that the said valuation ruling may be reviewed in the light of prevailing international market prices. Moreover, the importers stated that the customs values determined in the existing valuation ruling are for imports in drum packing whereas in case the goods are imported in ISO tanks or bulk vessels, they face difficulty for assessment. Therefore, they requested that margin of quantity and freight element may be allowed for imports in ISO tanks or bulk vessels as it has been allowed in several other valuation rulings. The DGCV has taken all view points of the participants into consideration.
The valuation methods provided in section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 were duly applied in their regular sequential order to arrive at customs values of subject items. The transaction value method provided in sub-section (1) of section 25, was found inapplicable because there was wide differences in the declarations. Identical goods value method provided in sub-sections (5) & (6) of section 25 ibid were examined for applicability to the valuation issue in the instant case which provided some reference values of the subject goods, but the same could not be exclusively relied on due to the absence of absolute demonstrable evidence of qualities, and quantities of commercial level etc., and also it was observed that some importers provided misleading description while declaring goods, as other grades and percentage of purity of similar goods to avoid the application of valuation ruling.
Information available was, hence, found inappropriate. In line with the statutory sequential order of section 25, the DGCV then conducted market inquiries using deductive value method under sub-section (7) of the section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 and determined customs values of Glycerin, Ammonium Bi Carbonate, Butyl Acrylate, Chlorinated Paraffin Wax (Liquid) and Calcium Carbide.