TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2015 (9) TMI 928
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....nefit of Notification NO. 096/2008, Serial No.51 towards exemption of duty. The importer had submitted a Certificate of Origin no. 14/002 dated 23/07/2014 for availing the benefit in Customs duty. It was noticed by the Customs officers that the declaration as prescribed at point NO. 11 of the Annexure -A of the rule 9 of Rules of origin was not certified by the exporter from the exporting country and the authorised signatory had only certified the declaration of the export the as correct even though the exporter had made no such declaration. Holding that such a certificate had no sanctity, and it is to be held as invalid, the lower authorities denied the preferential concessions and order was passed for assessment of the bill of entry denyi....
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....plicable, a liberal approach can be adopted within the particulars of notification. It is his submission that various other importers have produced the certificate of origin as is produced by the appellant and it was accepted by the lower authorities and benefit of exemption was extended. 4. Learned departmental representative on the other hand would point out the various deficiencies in the certificate of origin and submit that the declaration made by the authorised signatory is not a valid declaration and the rules of origin requires the certificate of origin be certified by the exporter, but cannot be held that the goods sought to be imported how order generated from that country as is claimed by the importer. He would draw our attent....
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....nt Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, that the goods in respect of which the exemption under this notification is claimed are of the origin of the country listed in the Schedule to this notification, in accordance with provisions of the Rules of Origin, published in the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), No.100/2008-Customs (N.T.), dated 13th August, 2008. Explanation.- For the purposes of this notification, "applied rate of duty" means the standard rate of duty specified in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975) with respect to the goods specified in the said Table, read with any other notification for the time b....
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....be noted that the said certificate of origin does mention the invoice number issued by the exporter. We perused the said invoice annexed at page No. 54 of the appal memoranda and note that and the said invoices in the same invoice which is mentioned in the certificate of origin as reproduced hereinabove. Having convinced ourselves that the certificate of origin does indicate that the goods were exported from one of the countries mentioned in the appendix to Notification No. 96/2008 as amended, we now address to the lapses pointed out by the lower authorities. 10. The main contention of the Departmental representative as also of the lower authorities is that the said certificate of origin is not signed at point No. 11 by the exporter. As ....
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.... the time limit results from force majeure or other valid reasons beyond the control of the exporter. In all cases, the relevant Customs Authority in India may accept such certificate of origin provided that the products have been imported before the expiry of the validity of the certificate of origin. The discovery of minor discrepancies between the statements made in the certificate of origin and those made in the documents submitted to the Customs Authority of India for the purpose of carrying out the formalities for clearance of import, the products shall not formalities for clearance of import, the products shall not ipso facto invalidate the certificate of origin, if it does in fact correspond to the said products." 11. It ca....