Customs jurisdiction over declared FOB value for DEPB benefit limited where exports were cleared and value had been accepted.

Customs scrutiny of the declared FOB value for DEPB purposes was considered unwarranted where the export value had already been accepted, no provisional clearance had been made, and the exports had been cleared. The commentary notes that, under the Board's Circular, any doubt about FOB value should be handled through market enquiry with provisional clearance pending verification. Because the benefit claimed did not exceed what was prescribed in the DEPB scrips issued by the DGFT, the enquiry into export value was treated as beyond Customs jurisdiction, while eligibility for DEPB credit remained a matter for the DGFT. On that basis, a prima facie case existed for waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery.

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Issues: Whether the Customs authorities were justified in enquiring into the correctness of the declared FOB value for the purpose of DEPB benefit, and whether waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery should be granted.

Analysis: The declared FOB value had been accepted at the time of export and there was no provisional clearance. The Board's Circular indicated that where the declared FOB value is doubted, the proper course is market enquiry and provisional clearance pending such enquiry. On the record, the exports had already been cleared, and no benefit beyond what was prescribed in the DEPB scrips issued by the DGFT had been availed. In these circumstances, the departmental enquiry into export value was held to be beyond jurisdiction, and the eligibility for DEPB credit was treated as a matter for the DGFT rather than the Customs authorities.

Conclusion: The appellants made out a prima facie case for waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery of the duty and penalty.

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