Therefore, an exercise was initiated to determine afresh the customs values of various types/categories of lubricating oils following the prevailing price trends of international market. Furthermore, the collector, MCC Quetta also requested for clarity with regards to valuation of Iranian origin motor oil imported via land route from Iran through MCC Quetta.
For the purpose, all stakeholders were invited for a meeting held on April 6, 2017 to determine customs values of lubricating oil. The meeting was attended by stakeholders, and representatives of importers of subject goods however, no representation was made on behalf of MCC Quetta. The current international prices of the subject goods were discussed with the stakeholders and they requested that the said valuation ruling may be reviewed in the light of prevailing international market prices.
All aspects of value were discussed and in light of the prevalent trends in petroleum products it was decided unanimously that the values should be revised upwards rationally. The views of those present were solicited regarding import of Iranian motor oil and it was opined by most of the stakeholders that the Iranian motor oil was generally of lower quality compared to other origins on account of higher sulphur content.
After adopting valuation methods, transaction value method & identical/similar goods value method, it was found that the same could not be solely relied upon due to variation in the same. Consequently, section 25(9) of the Customs Act, 1969 was applied to arrive at assessable customs values of lubricating oil.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017