Case Law Details
Atlantic Customs Brokers Vs Commissioner of Customs (General) (CESTAT Mumbai)
CESTAT Mumbai held that imposition of penalty for failure in not being proactive for fulfilling of regulation 10(a) of Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018 [CBLR,2018] alone, is appropriate and justifiable.
Facts- The appellant is a Customs Broker (CB). A specific information was received by Customs Air Preventive Unit (APU) of R&I Division of the office of the Principal Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), New Custom House, Mumbai on 04.03.2017 regarding mis-declaration of description of goods and its value in import of ‘Button Tips’. Accordingly, the imported goods were subjected to detailed examination by a chartered engineer. Accordingly, the test report indicated that the main ingredient of the imported goods namely ‘Button Tips’ are “Tugsten-W” which is a rare metal having higher economic value. The chartered engineer’s report also suggested that the minimum average price of imported goods, purchased in bulk, would be US $35 per Kg. indicating that there is undervaluation of imported goods as the said minimum average price of Tungsten is 7.7 times more of the declared value of imported goods.
On the basis of such offence report/letter SCN received from Customs APU, R&I Division, Mumbai, the jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs (General), Mumbai-I had concluded that there is a prima facie case against the appellants for having contravened Regulations 10 (a), 10(d), 10(f) and 10(n) of CBLR, 2018. Accordingly, the said Commissioner of Customs, had suspended the CB license of the appellants under CBLR, 2018. Subsequently, the Commissioner of Customs (General), Mumbai-I, being the licensing authority under Regulations 14 ibid had passed the impugned order dated 28.08.2020 for revoking CB License of the appellants and, at the same time, forfeited the entire amount of security deposit and imposed penalty of Rs.50,000/- on the appellants. Feeling aggrieved with the impugned order, the appellants have preferred this appeal before the Tribunal.
Conclusion- In accepting the documents from the importer directly or through intermediary and at the same time ensuring that the IEC is not being misused by any person other than IEC holder, we are of the considered view that the responsibility of a Customs Broker is to play a crucial role in protecting the interest of Revenue and at the same time he is expected to facilitate expeditious clearance of import/export cargo by complying with all legal requirements.
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