TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (6) TMI 866
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....CH), Nhava Sheva, Taluka- Uran, District Raigad, Maharashtra. 2.1 The brief facts of the case are that the appellants had imported 'Dry Dates' by classifying it under Customs Tariff Item (CTI) 0804 1030 under Bill of Entry (B/E) No. 6795924 dated 22.12.2021, for a total quantity of 55150 kgs. in 1103 bags stuffed in two 40 feet containers, exported by M/s Aarsh International Foodstuff, Dubai, UAE to Nhava Sheva; and self-assessed the same declaring the country of origin as 'United Arab Emirates' and paid applicable customs duty. Based on suspicion and intelligence that the subject goods might be of Pakistan origin and country of origin certificate might have been manipulated, said imported goods were put on hold by the officers of Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (SIIB) of JNCH Customs Commissionerate. The said imported goods stuffed in two 40 feet containers were subjected to 100% physical examination by the Customs officers posted at Docks examination under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Docks, JNCH, Nhava Sheva. During such examination it was found that the quantity, valuation and quality of the goods found as declared and the gunny bags wer....
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.... the appeal filed by the appellants by upholding the order of the original authority. Feeling aggrieved against such order, the appellants have filed these appeals before the Tribunal. 3.1 The learned Advocate for the appellants had submitted that on the basis of documents such as Bill of Lading; commercial invoice; packing list; Certificate of Origin issued by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Phytosanitary certificate issued by The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, after visual inspection by the designated officer at Jable Ali Port, Center for Agricultural and Veterinary Quarantine on 14.12.2021; clearly provide that the imported goods are of 'United Arab Emirates' origin and not of Pakistan Origin. Further, he explained that the supplier M/s Aarsh International Foodstuff Trading L.L.C., M-07, Building No.4, Aweer Fruit & Vegetable market, Dubai, UAE had procured jute bags separately and therefore the printing on the jute bags to the effect that such bags are manufactured from Pakistan cannot be extended to the 'dry dates' procured by them from UAE. Learned Advocate had also stated that the Regional Plant Quarantine Station, Maharashtra of the Director....
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....of the dutiability of any goods and the amount of duty, tax, cess or any other sum so payable, if any, under this Act or under the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975) (hereinafter referred to as the Customs Tariff Act) or under any other law for the time being in force, with reference to- (a) the tariff classification of such goods as determined in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Tariff Act; (b) the value of such goods as determined in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the Customs Tariff Act; (c) exemption or concession of duty, tax, cess or any other sum, consequent upon any notification issued therefor under this Act or under the Customs Tariff Act or under any other law for the time being in force; (d) the quantity, weight, volume, measurement or other specifics where such duty, tax, cess or any other sum is leviable on the basis of the quantity, weight, volume, measurement or other specifics of such goods; (e) the origin of such goods determined in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Tariff Act or the rules made thereunder, if the amount of duty, tax, cess or any other sum is affected by the origin of such goods; (f) any ....
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.... as it stood immediately before the date on which such assent is received." 8.1 On careful consideration of the said provisions, we find that in case of any type of assessment, besides classification and assessable value of imported goods, the country of origin is also required to be determined in accordance with the provisions of Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 and the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. In the present case, we find that the appellants had self-assessed the goods in terms of Section 17(1) ibid, by declaring the value of the imported goods as per invoice price. It is also on record that on the investigation conducted by SIIB, JNCH Customs officers in verification of such self-assessment in terms of Section 17(2) and 17(3) ibid, the appellants had submitted to the department, all the relevant documents for the supply of imported goods from the supplier's end at United Arab Emirates, such as those specifically issued for proving the country of origin i.e., Certificate of Origin No. 21105532 dated 13.12.2021 issued by the competent authority Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Certificate of Fumigation Ref. UPTS/FUM/5258/ 2021 dated 14.12.2021 and Phytosanitary Certific....
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....ail: [email protected]; Website: www. sargodhajute.com" and one gunny bag of dry dates was found attached with green coloured tag/label mentioning as 'Thal Limited (Jute Division), Manufacturer & exporter of Eco friendly & Food Grade jute products; e- Mail:[email protected]'. On this basis, the investigation wing of the department had concluded, only on the basis of label of the packaging material and that 'Sargodha Jute Mills limited' being a leading manufacturer of jute bags based in Pakistan, that the imported dry dates are also of "Pakistan origin" and not of "United Arab Emirates origin". The findings of the learned Commissioner of Customs (Appeals) that the investigating unit has reasonably established that the goods are of Pakistan origin, is factually incorrect, as only part of the goods contain the blue/green colour tag/labels bags indicating that these were made in Pakistan and in rest of the bags were without any such markings, which learned Commissioner (Appeals) had presumed that "it could have tried to remove all the labels/tags from all the gunny bags, however, in a hurry, some tag/labels were left in mutilated condition. This act of the supplier shows mala fide i....
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....the imported goods are of 'United Arab Emirates'. Thus, we do not find any merits in the impugned order for upholding the order of original authority confirming that the imported goods are of Pakistan origin, without any proper support of documents for confirmation of adjudged demands and for imposition of redemption fine and penalties on the appellants importer. Further, it is not the case of Revenue that the imported goods did not comply with the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and labelling) Regulations, 2011 and therefore the action for confiscation and penalties were proposed. 10.1 In this regard, we find that the Co-ordinate Bench of the Tribunal in the case of Doves International Vs. Commissioner of Customs, New Delhi - 2018-TIOL-2219-CESTAT-Del. have held that merely because of use of gunny bags showing that these bags are products on one country, cannot by itself enable that the imported goods also should be treated as though of the same country of origin to which the packaging materials belongs to. The relevant paragraph of the said Order is extracted below : "5. After hearing the lengthy arguments and on perusal of the material available on record, it appears tha....