TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (8) TMI 344
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....items, classified under CTH 73269080 of the Customs Tariff, with M/S J. F. Trading of Chittgong, Bangladesh. On arrival of the cargo, the appellant filed Bill of Entry No.8912899 dated 31.05.2022 along with the Seller's Invoice No. JFT/IMP/030/2022 Dated 28.04.2022 and SAFTA Certificate having Ref No. EPB(C) 32918 Dated 31.05.2022, issued by the competent authority in Bangladesh. The Bill of Entry filed by them was processed by the Customs Authorities and following query was raised- "Declared value appears to be low as per LME/DGOV valuation guidelines/contemporary Imports, why should not value enhance as per contemporaneous data, give consent to assess the BE as per contemporary Import/LME/DGOV prices of the goods and also give your comments/view on applicability of ADD/CVD/BIS if applicable. Please upload the copy of relevant required documents viz BIS, Contract, Form9 & 6, SPCB and Annual report, PSIC, SIMS/NFMIMS, consent letter, etc." 2.2. The query was replied by the CHA as under: "Respected Sir, We are regular importer of same commodity from same country and we have actual user of said commodity for manufacturing the hydraulic cylinder, piston, forging plant, hyd....
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.... the Customs Act, 1962 was also ordered with an option to redeem the goods on payment of Redemption Fine of Rs. 6,00,000/-. A penalty of Rs.72,000/- was also imposed under Section 112(a) (ii) of the Customs Act,1962 upon the importer Appellant. As the goods were urgently required for manufacturing purpose in their plant, the Appellant paid the said amount of duty, Fine and penalty on 29.7.22 and thereafter the goods were cleared for home consumption by customs authorities. 2.8. Even though the Appellant has written the letter dated 04.07.2022, foregoing the SAFTA benefit unconditionally and willing to pay full duty without COO (SAFTA) benefit, they filed appeal before Commissioner (Appeals). The Ld. Appellate Authority passed impugned order, wherein he has upheld the denial of SAFTA benefits. 2.9. Aggrieved against the impugned order upholding the denial of SAFTA benefits, the Appellant has filed this appeal. 3. The grounds raised by the Appellant in their appeal are summarized as under: (i) The Bill of Entry submitted by them was subjected to assessment/re-assessment by the proper Officer of Customs. On physical examination, the goods were found to be same as dec....
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....rtment has not initiated any action as prescribed in Determination of Origin of Goods under the Agreement on South East Asia Free Trade Area, before denying the benefit of duty exemption to the Appellant importer which was outright available to him by virtue of a Certificate of Origin issued by the designated authority of the exporting State. (v) The genuineness of the COO certificate is not in dispute. The only allegation is that the importer failed to produce sufficient proof to show that the goods fulfilled the origin criteria. That the goods are obtained from ship breaking in Bangladesh is an admitted fact. The competent Authority has certified it under category "A" which denotes products wholly produced or obtained in that country. The origin of the ship is not verifiable. The appellant rely on the judgment passed by the CESTAT in BDB Exports Pvt. Ltd. [2017 (347)E.L.T. 662 (Tri- Kolkata)] wherein it has been held, inter-alia, that the Certificate of origin submitted by the Appellant to get the benefit of exemption cannot be scuttled by department by conducting local investigation to deny the said exemption. (vi) There was no mismatch of the quality/classific....
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....nefit. Having foregone the benefit in writing, they cannot retract and claim the benefit now. In this regard, we would like to examine the circumstances which forced the Appellant to write such a letter foregoing the SAFTA benefit. For ready reference, the said letter is extracted below: 6.2. From the Letter, it is evident that the Appellant has not written the letter on his own. They were always claiming that they were eligible for the exemption and claimed the benefit in the Bills of entry filed. This is evident from the rely given by them to the query raised by the Assessing Officer. The reply given by the Appellant to the query, the Appellant is reproduced as under "Sir, the goods are Bangladesh Origin, wholly produced/obtained in Bangladesh in accordance with Rules of the SAFTA as certified by the competent Authority in Bangladesh the exporting country. Kindly assess the Bill of Entry." 6.3. We find that the consignment imported by the appellant was already under detention by the customs authorities for more than one month and heavy demurrage was being charged by the custodian. The submission of the Appellant is that he personally visited Custom House many times....
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.... Appellant that they are eligible for the concessional rate of duty available as per SAFTA. 6.6. It is pertinent to mention that Article 14 thereof says that the discovery of minor discrepancies between the statements made in the Certificate of Origin and those made in the documents submitted in the office of the Customs Authority of the importing Contracting state for the purpose of carrying out the formalities for importing the product shall not ipso facto invalidate the Certificate of Origin correspond to the said products. 6.7. Article 15 (a) says, the importing Contracting State may request to the issuing authority of the exporting Contracting State for retrospective check at random and/or when it has reasonable doubt as to the authenticity of documents or as to the accuracy of the information regarding the true origin of the products in question or of certain parts thereof. Denial of duty exemption available to the appellant without showing any valid reason is not sustainable under law. 6.8. In the present case, we find that no such step as prescribed to Determination of Origin of Goods under the Agreement on SAFTA has been followed by the investigation before denyin....