Tasty Nut Industries Vs Commissioner of Customs (Kerala High Court)
Kerala High Court held that 100% Export Oriented Unit i.e. EOU is itself a customs bonded unit and hence no reason exists to deny permission to the petitioner to remove the cashew kernels covered by Bill of Entry to be re-processed in its own customs bonded premises.
Facts- Petitioner is a manufacturer and exporter of cashew based products. In the year 2022, 400 cartons of about 8000 Kg of organic cashew kernels were exported by the petitioner. However, since the foreign buyer rejected the goods due to an alleged mis-match of the label, the goods were re-imported claiming the benefit of Customs Notification No. 45/2017. However, the customs subjected the imported goods to certification by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The said Authority rejected 200 cartons of cashew kernels out of the total 400 cartons stating those to be unfit for home consumption. Subsequently, petitioner amended the Bill of Entry claiming the benefit of Notification No.158/1995 and indicated that they were ready to execute necessary bonds promising to re-export the goods after re-processing. However, the Commissioner of Customs ordered confiscation stating that the amendment of Bill of Entry was an afterthought.
