Preferential tariff benefit under the ASEAN-India Free Trade...

Preferential tariff benefit under the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area cannot be denied solely because an overseas supplier did not cooperate in a general origin-verification exercise. Each Certificate of Origin is an independent statutory document for a distinct import transaction and requires transaction-specific verification; departmental correspondence does not itself invalidate certificates issued by the exporting country's designated authority. In the absence of findings that the certificates were forged, cancelled, fraudulently obtained or otherwise invalid, the article states that preferential duty treatment remains available. It also explains that extended limitation requires Revenue to prove fraud, collusion, wilful misstatement or intentional suppression; an openly disclosed claim supported by certificates accepted at assessment does not establish wilful suppression.