Directorate General Customs Valuation (DGCV) has revised the customs values of palm acid oil under sub-section (9) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969. According to details, the Directorate has received representations from concerned importers, wherein they requested the revision of customs values of subject goods. Keeping the prevailing prices of the subject goods in view, the Directorate has initiated an exercise for determination of the customs values of the same in terms of section 25-A of the Customs Act, 1969.
For the purpose, the meeting with stakeholders including importers and representatives from field formations was held on April 10, 2018 to discuss the current international prices of the subject goods. The importers further stated that Palm Acid Oil was being imported either in drum packing or flexible bags, therefore, customs value may be notified for ease of application at clearance stage.
The Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association stated that a few genuine importers declared the actual prices but certain elements resort to mis-declaration and under-invoicing, thus hurting the industry. Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association representing the main importers contended that their proposition of values of Palm Acid Oil accurately reflects international values and they take responsibility for any deviation.
As and when there are significant variations, they would themselves approach customs authorities for redetermination of customs values. The view point of all participants was heard in detail and considered to arrive at Customs values of the subject goods. 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 goods.
The transaction value method as provided in sub-section (1) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 was found inapplicable due to wide variation of values displayed in the import data. Therefore, the requisite information required under law was not available to arrive at the correct transaction value. Therefore, similar goods value method as provided in sub-sections (5) & (6) of section 25 ibid was examined for applicability to the valuation issue in the instant case, which provided some references but due to wide variations in declarations this method could not be relied upon exclusively.
In line with the statutory sequential order of section 25, the office conducted market inquiries using deductive value method under sub-section (7) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969. However, the method of valuation could not be exclusively relied upon due to reason that it is an industrial use item and is not readily available. Therefore, subsection (8) was examined but valuation under said subsection could not also be made due to non-availability of conversion and processing cost of the exporting country. Consequently, customs values of Palm Acid Oil have been determined under sub-section (9) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969. The Palm Acid Oil origin from Malaysia, Indonesia and others shall now be assessed at US$ 0.47 per kilogram, US$0.46 per kilogram and US$0.45 per kilogram, respectively.