KARACHI: Post Clearance Audit (PCA) of Pakistan won a case against importer of MG vehicles from China. The judgment came from a double member bench of Customs Appellate Tribunal, Karachi bench comprising Member Technical, Abdul Jabbar Qureshi.

The bench was hearing an appeal filed by PCA against Order in Original passed by the Collector of Customs, Adjudication (I) and Messes JW SEZ (Pvt) Ltd, Pakistan. The controversy pertained to declared and assessed value of SUV category MG vehicle imported from Chinese company SAIC Motor International. The vehicles imported include 687 MG HS, 53 MG ZS and 07 MG ZS EV.

The customs disputed the declared value on the basis that both the importer and Manufacturer cum supplier are “related parties” and hence their value could not be depended upon for ascertaining the actual transactional value.

The Collector Adjudication passed the Order in Original in favor of the importer which was challenged in the appeal before the custom appellate tribunal.

The tribunal held that  during the whole controversy of valuation stretching over several months neither  clearance Collectorate nor the FBR approached the manufacturer directly or through Pakistan Embassy in China. This leaves no doubt in our minds that the declared values, the provisionally assessed  values and the values determined by the Committee were not in accordance with the provisions of the custom act 1969.

The tribunal parting with the judgment  held that charges leveled in the Show Cause Notice  stands established against the importer and Order in Original is resultantly set aside and appeal by PCA is allowed. Sultan Aurangzeb, Principal Appraiser represented the PCA before the Customs Appellate Tribunal.