LAHORE: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Member (Customs Operations) Zeba Hai has said that working to bring main items into valuation ruling net is well on the way.
He said there were problems not only with smuggling but also with regard to mis/under-invoicing and the percentage data is not available but virtual assessment has been started. Talking to the business community here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Monday, she said that valuation was very important. Zeba Hai said that they were looking at the issue of exemptions in FATA. “Implementation of the rules and regulations should be taken seriously,” she said, adding that the focal persons would be appointed and a classification committee would also be established in the North.
LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that the Customs Department and the business community should work together to promote business activities in the country. He said that the condition of keeping the documents in consignment has been removed in federal budget 2
023-24 which has given a relief to the importers.
He said that the repeated issuance of customs valuation rulings on some items by the Directorate General of Customs Valuation causes concern in the business community. In this regard, the business community may be informed about the criteria. The LCCI President said that according to some of our members, who are related to steel, banaspati ghee (edible oil) and foam industry etc. the facility of exemption given to FATA/PATA was being misused and adversely affecting industries outside FATA/PATA.
According to LCCI members from some sectors, he mentioned, especially used machinery and used auto parts, the process of declaration of goods at dry ports took a lot of time which should not exceed 48 hours.
Kashif Anwar said that when the container was released from the port, its documents were also checked by the enforcement agencies and there was no need for re-checking. He said that under SRO 492, the re-export period of carpets temporarily imported for repair/r
ewash/refinish has been reduced from 18 months to six months. It takes a lot of time as the entire process was done by hands without the use of any machinery so that the period of 18 months should be restored.
He said that smuggling should be controlled through border management. He said that imported industrial machinery comes with components and accessories while spare parts are not included which have to be imported separately later. Karachi Customs insisted on import of spare parts along with machinery which was not possible. He demanded that the spare parts should be classified in the HS code of machinery and assessment should be done accordingly.
The President of Lahore Chamber said that customs valuation has been increased by 100 percent on the import of certain crockery items this year by the Customs Valuation Department, it should be revised and if increase is required, it should be in a phased manner.