20000215

Amendment

in CGO on imports

valuation shortly

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Collector of Customs (Appraisement), Dr. Manzoor Ahmed, has said that the Customs General Order CGO-57 controlling valuation of imports under the GATT Valuatiion system introduced from January, 2000 will be shortly amended to eliminate grievances of the trade.

He was responding to a point raised by Javed Ahmed Vohra, the President of the Karachi Customs Agents Group (KCAG), in his address of welcome presented at Group's Eid Milan dinner on Saturday. The latter had complained that the prices mentioned in the data base were not correct.

The Collector said that the draft of the data base of values was sent to both the FPCCI and the KCCI for comment but they did not make any which gave the impression that the trade had agreed to the draft. As far as the demand for amendment in the concerned CGO was concerned, it should be referred to the Central Board of Revenue which was authorised to make any changes, he added.

Javed Vohra in his address of welcome spoke about the tremendous problems of valuation caused with the introduction of GATT System of Valuation. He said the data base of values, which was referred to by the Customs for valuation of goods, was a major stumbling block in the smooth flow of imports.

The Group's president pointed out that the data base was compiled in haste and there were a number of mistakes in prices mentioned in the document. he further said that under the old system of valuation a difference of five percent in values was ignored whereas in the new system this had been left to the discretion of the Customs officer.

Javed lauded the efforts made by the Collectorate to modernise customs procedures. He suggested that the electronic assessment system should be applied to all imports made by industries as well as on goods having 10 percent duty.

KCCI President Amjad Rafi in his speech described the Customs Agents Group as most active trade body affiliated to the Chamber which seeks guidance from it in all legal matters connected to imports and exports.

Nasim Yousuf, General Secretary of the KCAG in his speech referred to the remarks made by the Collector Appraisement, that there were unprofessional people among clearing agents, and said that the Group was opposed to the inclusion of unqualified people among clearing agents and advised the Customs to amend its licensing rules so that only professional people could join the profession.