Certificate-of-origin verification failures undermine preferential tariff denial when specific certificates remain untested and retracted statements lack corroboration.

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....Preferential tariff treatment based on Certificates of Origin requires prescribed, time-bound verification of the specific certificates presented and communication of the grounds for doubt. Verification concerning different certificates, general information about a supplier, or assumptions about the goods' origin does not displace documentary certificates. Retracted statements require independent corroboration and appropriate examination and cross-examination before reliance; an admission is not invariably conclusive. On these principles, denial of the preferential duty exemption, consequential duty demand, confiscation, redemption fine and penalties could not be sustained where the specific Certificates of Origin were neither statutorily verified nor rebutted by reliable corroborative evidence.....