KARACHI: The Collectorate of Customs Adjudication has issued Order-in-Original (ONO) against an importer, UBC Convertec (Private) Limited, for its alleged involvement in mis-declaration of goods, value and description.
According to details, the importer electronically filed goods declaration — KAPE-HC-54462 dated 24-12-2013 declared to contain Acrylic Polymer in primary form “PC WBGS 1240 A”, 10500Kg (net weight) under HS Code 3906.9090 customs duty at 10 percent at unit value of Euro 1.15per Kg with total invoice value of Euro 12,075. The shipment in this case has been affected through the Letter of Credit No 0110LCS202113. The importer determined his liability of payment of applicable duty and sought clearance under Section 79(1) of the Customs Act, 1969.
Moreover, scrutiny of the goods declaration revealed that the importer has mis-declared the description, classification and value of goods as on physical examination, the goods have been found as “Print Coatings, Print Coat WB 1240-2-60P-Gloss Water Based Varnish (as printed on the drums).”
The examination of Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) also revealed that the product PC WB 1240-2-60A was a water-based coating for printing industry. Besides, test report of HEJ Laboratory also confirmed that the product was Water-based varnish.
The importer thus concealed the actual description of the description, value and classification of the goods and suppressed the value and taxes. The total amount of revenue involved has been determined as Rs 850,558, while the value determined of the offending goods tune to Rs 1,661,246.
Therefore, the importer UBC Convertec violated Sections 32(1), 32(2) and 32(A), 79(1) of Customs Act, 1969 punishable under Clause 14, 14 (A) and 45 of Section 156 (1); Section 33 of Sales Tax Act, 1990 under Clause 11(C), Section 148 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and also violated SRO 499(1)/2009 under Clause 1(c) and (e) of the Table.
The Collectorate of Adjudication, therefore, imposed a fine equal to Rs 332249 at 20 per cent of ascertained value of the offending goods in terms of SRO 499(I)/2009 and a penalty of Rs 25000 has also imposed under Clause (14) and 14(A) of the Section 156(1) of the Customs Act, 1969.