Customs takes notice of delay in consignment clearance

KARACHI: Pakistan Customs has taken notice of wrong application of valuations by appraisers, which ends in disputed consignments and causes delays in the clearance process, sources said on Tuesday.

Model Customs Collectorate (MCC) Appraisement West in this regard issued instructions to avoid assessing goods on higher valuations, especially in the presence of valuation ruling.

The sources said a delegation of Karachi Customs Agents Association (KCAA) complained to the Collector Appraisement West that appraisers were deliberately assessing goods on higher valuations, despite available valuation rulings for such goods.

Valuation Ruling (VR) is a legal document that describes the value of imported goods for the purpose of collecting duty and taxes. In case of higher valuation, it results in high revenue collection.

KCAA members have apprised the collector that when higher valuations were contested, the additional collector or assistant collector, after one or two appeals reverts the market valuation to the actual one.

This whole procedure resulted in undue delays in the clearance of consignments, they informed.

Sources said the collector had directed assistant collector and deputy collector to provide details of all those clearances, where appraising officers assessed on the higher valuation, but later it was rectified at a later stage.

The collector also directed the staff to ensure speedy clearance and avoid wrong application of different provisions of law.

Sources said that to speed up the clearance process, the customs agents also raised objections regarding delaying tactics for consignments cleared through the green channel.

The collector has been informed that at the gate-out, the terminal operators stopped the goods cleared through green channel for NOC from customs authorities.

The customs agents said the NOC was being issued by assistant/deputy collector, but in most of the cases, the authorised officers referred the case to the lower staff, which were least bothered about the issue. Therefore, the goods remained at the gate-out stage for a long time.

The collector took notice the leniency of authorised officers and directed assistant/deputy collector to issue NOC personally to ensure fast clearance of goods and facilitate the trade.