Cross-border movement of foreign currency and travel cards: confiscation under Customs Act quashed for lack of statutory empowerment

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Full Text of the Document

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....The dispute addresses whether Customs Act powers may be invoked to confiscate foreign currency embedded in travel cards absent a deeming prohibition in foreign exchange law. The tribunal reasons that currency is defined within foreign exchange statutes and that Customs Act conferral under section 113(d) operates only where another laws prohibition is expressly deemed to be a Customs prohibition; without such deeming or valid delegation under FEMA/FERA, Customs authorities lacked statutory empowerment to confiscate or impose penalties under section 114. Consequently, the confiscation of travel-card currency and attendant penalties were set aside for want of legal authority.....