KARACHI: After three years, new customs values have been announced for imported motorcycle helmets which range from $2.60 to $9.60 per piece based on prevailing prices in world markets.

As per a notification issued on Aug 25, 2016, customs values for motorcycle helmets (half face, full face and cross-shaped) will be assessed to duty/taxes of above customs values.

The department claims to have initiated an exercise for determining customs values for bike helmets and meetings in this regard were held with stakeholders on Aug 16 and Aug 25.

The stakeholders were asked to submit various documents before the meeting which included invoices of imports made during the last three months showing factual value, website emails and addresses of known foreign manufacturers of the item to ascertain current value, copies of contracts made/LCs opened during the last three months showing value of the items and copies of sales tax invoices issued during the last four months showing the difference in price (excluding duty and taxes) to substantiate that the benefit of difference in price is passed to the local buyers.

However, Director General Customs did not receive any documents even after the said scheduled meetings.

He said valuation methods given in Section 25 of the Customs Act 1969 were followed. Transactions value method provided in Section 25 (I) was found inapplicable because the requisite information was not available. Identical/ similar goods value methods provided in Section 25 (5) and (6) were also not found helpful in determination of values due to wide variation in values.

Consequently market enquiries as envisaged under Section 25(7) of the Customs Act 1969, were conducted and customs values of bike helmets were determined under Section (7) of the Customs Act 1969.

Market sources said that previous ruling on full face helmet of China was $2.53 per piece while valuation of half face helmet was $2.23.

They said the import duty on helmet ranges between 16-20 per cent, additional customs duty of 1pc, 17pc sales tax, an additional 3pc sales tax and 6-9pc income tax. For some FTA approved companies/importers, the rate of customs duty is 5pc.

Considering the valuation ruling of $2.80 of a Chinese helmet with the above mentioned taxes, the cost of an imported helmet comes to Rs440.

On the contrary, full face helmet of Chinese origin sells between Rs800 to Rs4,000 while half face helmet sells between Rs750 to Rs3,500. Some branded cross-shaped helmet are priced at Rs5,000.

Akbar Market, hub of helmet and bikes, also has Indian helmets with warranty of three years at a price ranging between Rs3,000-5,000. Sub standard locally produced helmets are available at Rs500.

Chairman Association of Pakistan Motorcycle Assemblers (APMA), Mohammad Sabir Shaikh said it is surprising that Indian helmets are available in markets. It is not clear whether these helmets are officially allowed or finding way through illegal channels, he added.

He said it is also unclear whether imports of helmets from China are of the same quality and standards as those from European countries.

He said the customs department does not have any study regarding category of helmets arriving from China as certified helmets are already very costly in China starting from minimum $10 to $35 per piece and substandard helmets are priced between $4 to $13 per piece.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2016