20000301

Importers assured

of GATT valuation

code implementation

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Member, Customs, Central Board of Revenue, Mir Fawad, has assured the importers that the GATT code of valuation would be implemented in letter and spirit.

Addressing a dinner meeting arranged on Monday by Nasir M. Chandna, a leading Customs agent and vice-chairman of FPCCI standing committee on Customs and dry ports, at a local hotel recently, he said that according to a report 80 percent of the bills of entry were cleared on the declared value where as only 20 percent were disposed of on prices mentioned in the database which was being constantly updated to include prices prevailing in the market.

He said that he had recently met the finance minister who told him that the country's existence lay on revenue generation by the CBR. Fawad said that the CBR has a limited role and, in fact, its functions are indirectly controlled by businessmen who are the main source of revenue generation.

He drew business community's attention to the low tax-GDP ratio and said that both the tax collectors and the businessmen had to work jointly to increase revenue collection. He said that both the tax collectors and the tax payers must be accountable for any loss of revenue because "both have equal responsibility" to contribute to the national economy.

Earlier, presenting the address of welcome, Nasir Chandna called for amending the Section 25-A of the Customs Act which provides that in case of non-acceptance of the value, arbitrarily enhanced by the Customs staff, the goods can be offered to another independent buyer at the value appraised by the department. Such cases are finalised within 15 days after paying the original importer 5 percent of his declared value to cover his initial investment.

He said that the original importer has to pay sales tax at the rate of 18 percent and hence the cost of investment should be enhanced from 5 percent to 25 percent to cover the cost incurred by the original importer.

He suggested that the GATT code should be implemented in letter and spirit, for at least three months, as the trade and industry is also patriotic and is well aware of the deteriorating financial position of the government. Thereafter a fresh database should be prepared in strict accordance of Article VII of the GATT Code for which necessary record would then be available with the department, he added.

The meeting was also addressed by S.M. Munir. It was attended by prominent businessmen and Customs collectors including Ramzan Bhatti, Dr. Manzoor Ahmed, Zafar Iqbal, Pervaiz Iqbal Kasi, Amjad Raffi, Sheikh Manzar Alam, Siraj Kassam Teli, Tahir Khaliq and Maqsood Ismail.