Refund claim and reassessment must be considered together where a belated origin certificate is produced for exemption goods.

Imported goods claimed exemption under a notification for goods originating from Myanmar, but the certificate of origin was not filed with the Bills of Entry. The certificate was later produced before the Original Authority, and a reassessment request had remained pending since 2018. The refund rejection was not sustainable because the belated certificate and pending reassessment were not properly considered. Since reassessment had to be addressed before deciding whether duty was payable at all, the matter was remanded to the Original Adjudicating Authority to first decide reassessment and then determine the refund claim afresh.

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Issues: Whether the rejection of refund claim was sustainable when the certificate of origin had been produced belatedly and a request for reassessment was already pending, and whether the matter required remand for first deciding reassessment and then the refund claim afresh.

Analysis: The imported goods were stated to be covered by the exemption notification for goods originating from Myanmar, but the certificate of origin was not filed with the Bills of Entry. The record showed that the certificate was later produced before the Original Authority and that the request for reassessment had been pending since 2018. The refund claim had been rejected without properly considering the belated certificate and the pending reassessment request. In view of the binding requirement that reassessment must precede consideration of refund where duty was not otherwise payable, the refund dispute could not be finally decided without first addressing reassessment.

Conclusion: The rejection of refund was not sustained, and the matter was remanded to the Original Adjudicating Authority to first consider reassessment and thereafter decide the refund claim afresh.

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