Late exemption claim under customs notification can be examined at finalisation if importer remains eligible.

An exemption under Notification No. 99/2011-CUS could still be examined after self-assessment where the importer remained otherwise eligible, and the failure to claim it at clearance did not create estoppel. Country-of-origin certificates were already on record, so reassessment was permissible on the existing supporting material. Because the Bills of Entry were still under provisional assessment and finalisation had not been completed, the matter was remanded to the original authority to examine admissibility of the exemption while finalising the imports.

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Issues: Whether the appellant could claim the benefit of Notification No. 99/2011-CUS dated 09.11.2011 at a later stage despite not having claimed it at the time of self-assessment, and whether the matter should be remanded for consideration of such exemption at the stage of finalization of the Bills of Entry.

Analysis: The relevant exemption was held to be claimable even after assessment, if the importer remains otherwise eligible. The absence of an initial claim at the time of clearance did not create any estoppel against seeking the benefit later. It was also noted that the country-of-origin certificates were already on record and that reassessment is legally permissible where supporting evidence was available at the time of initial documentation. As the assessments were provisional and finalization was still pending, the proper course was to direct the original authority to examine the admissibility of the exemption while finalizing the Bills of Entry.

Conclusion: The exemption claim was held to be open for consideration at the later stage, and the matter was remanded to the original authority for examination of eligibility under Notification No. 99/2011-CUS dated 09.11.2011 during finalization of the imports.

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