The Directorate General of Customs Valuation Karachi has revised the new customs value of imported solar panels, increasing it from $0.08 per watt to $0.09 per watt. This decision has been taken after a significant decline in the prices of solar panels in the global market.
According to the valuation ruling issued on Monday, the directorate received several requests from various importers stating that prices in the global market have decreased, hence the need to re-determine the current customs value of these products.
According to the Business Recorder, in this regard, the Pakistan Solar Association (PSA) had made a formal representation on January 21, requesting a review of the old valuation ruling. He pointed out that the customs value set is higher than the global prices, which is causing difficulties for importers in dealing with banks. In many cases, the customs value was higher than the declared transaction value, which was delaying clearance.
In the initial consultation held on February 19, most stakeholders and importers agreed to continue the “tier-based categorization” as mentioned in the previous valuation ruling. The participants took the position that the prices of solar panels have significantly decreased since July 2024. Market verification was also requested from local distributors and ongoing solar exhibitions in Pakistan.
It was also clarified that some major importers could not attend the initial meeting as they were busy with an international exhibition in China, which spanned almost two months.
In the subsequent meeting, most of the participants reiterated their stance of price reduction and requested for reduction in customs value. In this regard, they submitted commercial invoices, GD documents and other evidence showing the current prices of various types of solar panels.
Furthermore, clearance data of the last 90 days was obtained and carefully reviewed so that the decision could be taken on the basis of merit and transparency.
The procedure available under Section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969 for determination of customs value was reviewed. However, the “Transaction Value Method” given in Section 25(1) could not be applied due to non-availability of required information.
Some values were found workable under the “Identical Goods Value Method”, however, due to lack of complete evidence, they were not relied upon solely.
The new value set by the Customs Directorate will not only reduce import costs but also facilitate banking processes and clearance, which could pave the way for the promotion of renewable energy in the country.
