Customs house agent penalty requires knowledge of false declaration; good-faith filing on client documents supports waiver of pre-deposit.

Penalty on a customs house agent under Section 114 of the Customs Act is not prima facie attracted unless there is material showing that the agent knew, or had reason to believe, that the export declaration was false or that the goods differed from the shipping documents. Where the agent files the shipping bill in the ordinary course on client-supplied documents and acts in good faith on their apparent genuineness, pre-deposit of the penalties may be waived. On that basis, the Tribunal found a prima facie case for the appellants, waived the deposit requirement, and stayed recovery.

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Issues: Whether pre-deposit of penalties imposed under Section 114 of the Customs Act was required to be waived, and whether recovery of the penalties should be stayed, on the prima facie case that the customs house agent had no knowledge or reason to believe that the export consignment contained goods different from those declared.

Analysis: Penalty on a customs house agent under Section 114 requires material showing that the agent knew, or had reason to know or believe, that the declaration was false or that the goods were different from those stated in the shipping documents. Where the agent files the shipping bill in the ordinary course on the basis of material supplied by the client and acts in good faith on the apparent genuineness of those documents, penalty is not prima facie attracted.

Conclusion: The Tribunal found a prima facie case in favour of the appellants, waived deposit of the penalties, and stayed recovery.

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