Customs Broker verification duties under licensing rules do not require physical inspection or re-checking genuine government-issued registrations.

Regulation 10(n) of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018 requires verification of IEC, GSTIN, client identity, and the client's functioning at the declared address through reliable, independent, authentic documents or information. It does not require a Customs Broker to physically visit every premises or independently investigate whether Government-issued registrations were properly granted. Where the broker relies on genuine official documents, their validity may be presumed unless there is evidence of forgery or fabrication. Later non-traceability of exporters during departmental verification, by itself, does not prove a regulatory breach. The alleged violation was not established, so revocation of licence, forfeiture of security deposit, and penalty could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether the Customs Broker had violated Regulation 10(n) of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018 by failing to verify the correctness of IEC and GSTIN, the identity of the client, and the functioning of the client at the declared address, so as to justify revocation of licence, forfeiture of security deposit, and penalty.

Analysis: Regulation 10(n) requires verification of the correctness of IEC and GSTIN and verification of the client's identity and functioning at the declared address by using reliable, independent, authentic documents, data, or information. The obligation does not extend to physically visiting every client's premises or to conducting a further investigation into whether Government-issued registrations were correctly granted by the issuing authorities. Where the Customs Broker has relied on genuine documents issued by competent Government authorities, the broker is entitled to presume their validity unless there is evidence that the documents were forged or fabricated. The subsequent non-traceability of exporters during departmental verification does not by itself establish that the Customs Broker failed to discharge its regulatory obligations.

Conclusion: The alleged violation of Regulation 10(n) was not established. The revocation of licence, forfeiture of security deposit, and penalty could not be sustained.

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