KARACHI: The government has withdrawn the power of Collector of Customs in determination of customs value on his own motion through Finance Bill 2019.
The Finance Bill 2019 proposed to withdraw the powers of the collector of customs to determine customs valuations on his motion under Section 25A(1) and Section 25A(3) of Customs Act, 1969.
The collector of customs presently has powers to determine the customs values under Section 25A.
The sub-section 1 of Section 25A states: Notwithstanding the provisions contained in section 25, the Collector of Customs on his own motion, or the Director of Customs Valuation on his own motion or on a reference made to him by any person or an officer of Customs, may determine the customs value of any goods or category of goods imported into or exported out of Pakistan, after following the methods laid down in section 25, whichever is applicable.
The sub-section 3 of Section 25A states: In case of any conflict in the customs value determined under sub-section (1), the Director-General of Customs Valuation shall determine the applicable customs value.
The powers of determining customs values have now been proposed to be available with Director of Customs Valuation.
Analysts said that this proposal in the Finance Bill 2019 would provide relief to import in clearance of consignments. They said that many arbitrary decisions of Collector have created hassles for the importers in the past and consignments were stuck up for a long time.
