Pakistani Director General of Customs Valuation Dr Farid Iqbal Qureshi announced on Tuesday afternoon that Customs valuation office will be made operational in Lahore soon to help the local traders on cost details of the imported Chinese goods.
In a meeting with the businesspersons at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the DG added that till opening of the Lahore office, they can join customs valuation meetings through zoom. “We have always a space for dialogue to promote national trade,” he stated.
Iqbal mentioned that the fixing of values of goods was an immense challenge but the department was dealing it in a winsome manner. “Customs Valuation department has an open-door policy for addressing all the grievances of the business community,” he maintained.
DG of Customs Valuation informed that the department has to consider the directions of the government and issues like under invoicing whilst evaluation of the goods. He said that the evaluation was being determined by looking at the average international price of the goods.
Mian Nauman Kabir President of LCCI said the methodology of determining the cost is difficult as the department has no data of cost of manufacturers in China which makes things difficult.
Kabir underlined that sometimes import shipments were assessed for valuation on retail price of imported commodities which was always higher than the wholesale price.
“The Customs must understand that containers are booked in bulk and cut-rate prices are mentioned in import documents,” he contended.
He opined that the Customs officials issue the valuation ruling on the basis of market inquiry. He recommended that the key parameters and the procedure of market inquiry should be properly notified to bring more transparency in the valuation process.
