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2021 (5) TMI 835
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....s carried by an authorized courier by air on behalf of a consignee or consignor at Customs airports. Whenever any goods are imported through courier instead of the normal procedure in which the importer or a Customs Broker files a bill of entry for the imported goods, in courier imports, the authorized courier or his agent files an electronic manifest of the imported goods prior to its arrival with the proper officer in express cargo manifest - import (ECM - I) form. The courier packages containing the imported goods cannot be dealt with in any manner except as directed by the Commissioner of Customs and no person shall, except with the permission of proper officer, open any packages of imported goods. The authorized courier shall present the imported goods to the proper officer for inspection, screening, examination and assessment. Thereafter, the authorized courier pays the import duty, if any, applicable on the imported goods and after clearance by the customs delivers the goods to the consignees and collects the customs duties from them. 3. Since this is a sensitive job involving clearance of imported goods, the permission to operate as courier for import and export goods re....
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....re under and in case of non-compliance thereof, he shall bring the matter to the notice of the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs; (iv) verify the antecedent, correctness of Importer Exporter Code (IEC) Number, identity of his client and the functioning of his client in the declared address by using reliable, independent, authentic documents, data or information; (v) exercise due diligence to ascertain the correctness and completeness of any information which he submits to the proper officer with reference to any work related to the clearance of imported goods or of export goods; (vi) not withhold information communicated to him by an officer of customs, relating to assessment and clearance of imported goods as well as inspection, examination and Clearance of export goods, from a consignor or consignee who is entitled to such information; (vii) not withhold any information relating to assessment and clearance of imported goods or of export goods, from the Assessing Officer; (viii) not attempt to influence the conduct of any officer of Customs in any matter pending before such officer or his subordinates b....
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....d under sub-regulation (1), may represent to the Chief Commissioner of Customs in writing against such order within sixty days of communication of the order to the Authorised Courier, and the Chief Commissioner of Customs shall, after providing the opportunity of being heard to the parties concerned, dispose of the representation as expeditiously as may be possible. 14. Penalty. - An Authorised Courier, who contravenes any of the provisions of these regulations or abets such contravention or who fails to comply with any provision of these regulations with which it was his obligation to comply, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to fifty thousand rupees. 5. The appellant filed declarations in respect of the following airway bills. S.No. HAWB No. Importer's name Description of the goods found during examination No. of pairs 1 86575442519 M/s. B S Imports Nike Zoom Pegasus 33 30 2 86575442140 M/s. B S Imports Nike Zoom Pegasus 33 30 3 86575442559 M/s. B S Imports Nike Zoom Pegasus 33 30 4 86575442563 M/s. B S Imports Nike Zoom Pegasus 33 30 5 86575442517 M/s. B S Imports....
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....pted his mistake of mis-declaration and undertook to pay duty and penalty, as applicable. Subsequent investigations showed that in fact, all the 15 consignments were imported by Balvinder Singh- six in the name of his firm and rest in the names of M/s Legend Creations and M/s. Personal Creations using their IEC without their knowledge. 8. Statement of Rajesh Mehta, Director of the appellant firm was recorded wherein he inter-alia stated that he was well conversant with the rules and procedures related to import and export; that he knew that a case of mis-declaration had been booked; that his company had filed Bills of Entry with the description of goods as "sample shoes‟ whereas on examination the consignment was found to be of commercial quantity of shoes; and that he was shown the statement of Balvinder Singh who had accepted having mis-declared the goods. He further said that it was a case of mis-declaration on the part of importer and that the Bills of Entry has been filed on the basis of the documents provided by the shippers and submitted signed copies of Bills of Entry in respect of the 15 airway bills pertaining to the case. 9. Further statement of Mehta was rec....
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....pex Court vide order dated 14/01/2016 has observed that, "The CHA occupies a very important position in the Customs House. The Customs procedures are complicated. The importers have to deal with a multiplicity of agencies viz. carriers, custodians like BPT as well as the Customs. The importer would find it impossible to clear his goods through these agencies without wasting valuable energy and time. The CHA is supposed to safeguard the interests of both the importers and the Customs. A lot of trust is kept in CHA by the importers/exporters as well as by the Government Agencies. To ensure appropriate discharge of such trust the relevant regulations are framed. Regulation 14 of the CHA Licensing Regulations lists out obligations of the CHA. Any contravention of such obligations even without intent would be sufficient to invite upon the CHA the punishment listed in Regulation ......" 13. The Adjudicating Authority further held that the authorized courier being a key person between the customs officers and the importer/exporter has a very similar role to play to that of the CHA and rejected the appellant‟s argument that they had obtained the KYC. 14. Aggrieved, the appellan....
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....courier, they are not authorized to open and examine the goods. Only the customs officers have the right to do so. Regulation 5(2)(v) specifically states "no person shall, except with the permission of proper officer, open any package of imported goods"; (c) After opening and inspecting the goods and getting them further examined by the brand owner M/s Nike, the customs officer came to the conclusion that they were counterfeit goods. Balvinder Singh was the person involved in these fraudulent imports and he has confessed to the crime. Nothing in his statement or in the statement of the appellant or of anyone else suggests that they were aware of the nature of the goods; and (d) Regulation 12(1)(v) requires the appellant to "exercise due diligence to ascertain the correctness and completeness of any information which he submits to the proper officer with reference to any work related to the clearance of imported goods or of export goods". They had verified the KYC documents which were received, though through Balvinder Singh, but under the cover of letters of the three importer firms. They have verified the KYC documents. Thereafter, when the invoices were received along with ....
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....l.) (iii) Rubal Logistics Pvt. Ltd. versus Commissioner of Customs (General), New Delhi - 2019 (368) E.L.T. 1006 (Tri. - Del.). 20. We have considered the arguments of both sides and have perused the record. 21. The job of an authorized courier agent is somewhat similar to the job of a customs broker. He is required to file declarations before the customs officers in respect of all the consignments, which were imported by him based on the documents. He has no authority to open the consignment. Further he is also required to verify the identity of the importers through KYC documents. In other words, he needs to verify whether the importer actually exists or otherwise which is part of the due diligence process. In this case, the appellant received the KYC documents of all the three alleged importers under the cover of their letters but they were received through Balvinder Singh. Having received the documents, the appellant verified the KYC documents and found the importers to be genuine. There is no dispute that all the three importers in whose name the imports were made exist. 22. The second set of documents which the appellant received is in the form of invoices a....