KARACHI: An appellate bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Sadiq Hussain Bhtatti on Monday issued notices to the respondents including Customs Appellate Tribunal, Bench I and A.F.U Enterprises for March 04.
The bench earlier heard arguments in Special Custom Reference Application filed by Director, Customs Valuation impugning the order of tribunal dated 16-12-2015 allowing an appeal under section 194-A ( I)( e) of Customs Act 1969.
Masooda Siraj advocate appearing for the applicant submitted that tribunal erred in law by holding that Director Valuation is not authorized to determine the value of imported goods involving payment of sales tax and Income Tax at “import stage”. The counsel for Custom valuation raised the legal issue that whether the tribunal misread the plain language of Section 25-A (I) which states that Custom Value for the preparation of Valuation Ruling (VR) is to be determined as per methods prescribed under section 25 of the Customs Act 1969.
The controversy pertains to the duty on “Compound Chocolate” under VR 625 of 2013 dated 23-12-2013 for Toffees, Candies and Sugar Confectionery. The Customs Valuation under the said VR increased the duty from US $ 1 per kilogram to US $ 2 per kilogram after complaints that importers of the Chocolate are resorting to under invoicing causing loss of revenue to the government.
The importers however termed the ruling as arbitrary and on higher side filed the revision application, which was rejected by the officers concerned. The customs maintains that they are empowered to determine the value at import stage while importers dispute this authority of the customs department.