TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 1682
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....ocuments, test report and final quantity in both the Bills of Entry. The appellant had self-assessed Customs duty under Section 17 (1) of the Customs Act, 1962 and paid Customs Duty accordingly. The Assessing officer granted out of Charge (OOC) to the imported goods i.e. LNG on the basis of available documents uploaded on e-sanchit. The appellant vide letter dated 29th June, 2022 requested the Commissioner of Customs Ahmedabad to allow exemption benefit of NIL duty as per comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and UAE and requested for refund of duty paid against both the Bills of Entry. 2.1 The Deputy Commissioner (Tech) Customs Ahmedabad vide letter dated 18th July, 2022 informed the appellant that "There was no declaration made in the Bills of Entry that the goods qualify as originating goods for preferential rate of duty under CEPA agreement between India and UAE. There was no mention of any Exemption Notification and the B/Es were filed with payment of applicable duty. The COO certificate which was uploaded on e-sanchit, was incomplete and the name of M/s. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and respective Invoice no. was not mentioned on it. The original....
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....final assessment under Section 18 (2) Customs Act, 1962 on final discharge quantity i.e. MMBTU 3193990.41 and 3162598.03 respectively having assessable value of Rs. 8,31,06,94,376/- and Rs. 8,38,38,73,435/- on payment of total duties Rs. 22,85,44,095/- and Rs. 23,05,56,519/- already paid vide challan no. 2039198698 and 2039515826 dated 16th May, 2022 and 16.06.2022 respectively. 2.6. Aggrieved with above order, appellant filed appeal before Commissioner of Customs (Appeals) who vide the impugned order dated 9th May, 2024 observed that as per Notification No. 81/2020-CUS (NT) dated 21st August, 2020, it emerges that to claim the preferential rate of duty under the trade agreement, the importer shall claim the same at the time of filing the Bill of Entry. He upheld the order of the lower authority denying benefit of preferential rate under CEPA between India and UAE as the appellant have not claimed any exemption benefit at the time of filing the Bills of Entry. Hence, the present appeal has been filed before this Tribunal. 3. The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that short issue involved in the matter is "whether the appellant is entitled to get benefit of exemption....
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....y at the time of granting Out of Charge order. (c) The Country of Origin Certificate was not available at the time of granting Out of Charge. In this case, the learned Commissioner (Appeals) vide Order-in- Appeal No. AHD-CUSTM-000-APP-292-293-24-25 dated 31st January, 2025 allowed the appeal and remanded the matter to the Adjudicating Authority with a direction to finalize provisional assessment after considering the Instruction No. 21/2024 dated 16th October, 2024 issued by CBIC. 3.2 Learned Counsel argued that in the present case, learned Commissioner (Appeals) denied benefit of Exemption Notification on the premise that the appellant neither had COO certificate nor claimed the benefit at the time of filing of Bills of Entry or at the time of Out of Charge order. He upheld the order of lower authority as CBIC Instruction No. 21/2024 date 16.10.2024 was not available. 3.3. The learned Counsel submitted that when the appellant requested for claiming exemption benefit of Certificate of Country of Origin, the Bills of Entry were provisionally assessed. The Adjudicating Authority ought to have appreciated that when assessment was provisional, it is provisional for al....
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.... shall, at the time of filing bill of entry,- (a) make declaration in the bill of entry that the goods qualify as originating goods for preferential rate of duty under that agreement; (b) indicate in the bill of entry the respective tariff notification against each item on which preferential rate of duty is claimed; (c) produce certificate of origin covering each item on which preferential rate of duty is claimed; and (d) enter details of certificate of origin in the bill of entry, namely: (i) certificate of origin reference number; (ii) date of issuance of certificate of origin; (iii) originating criteria; (iv) indicate if accumulation/cumulation is applied; (v) indicate if the certificate of origin is issued by a third country (back-to-back); and (vi) indicate if goods have been transported directly from country of origin. 5.1. The learned Commissioner interpreted the above provisions in a manner that if preferential rate of duty under trade agreement is claimed then the importer shall claim the same at the time of filing the Bill of Entry. We are of the view that in the present case, the....
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....ficate of Origin has notbeen issued at the time of exportation or within five working days from the date of shipment due to involuntary errors or omissions, or any other valid reasons, the Certificate of Origin may be issued retrospectively, bearing the words "ISSUED RETROSPECTIVELY" in box 9 of the Certificate of Origin, with the issuing authority also recording the reasons in writing on the exceptional circumstances due to which the certificate was issued retrospectively. The Certificate of Origin can be issued retrospectively but no longer than twelve months from the date of shipment. 2.2 Further, rule 21(3) provides for claiming of refund of excess duties paid in cases where a product would have qualified as an originating product when it was imported into the territory, but preferential treatment was not extended at the time of import: (3) each Party shall, in accordance with its laws, provide that where a product would have qualified as an originating product when it was imported into the territory of that Party, the importer of the product may, within a period specified by the laws of the importing Party, apply for a refund of any excess duties paid as a re....