Customs law

Customs disputes tend to be urgent in a way that other tax matters are not: goods are sitting at a port, a consignment is detained, or a bank account has been touched. The first question is usually not who wins in three years, but how the consignment moves this month.

What this covers

• Valuation disputes, including Special Valuation Branch proceedings on related-party imports
• Classification disputes under the Customs Tariff and advance rulings before CAAR
• Seizure, detention and applications for provisional release of goods
• Show-cause notices issued by DRI and SIIB
• Penalties and redemption fine under the Customs Act, 1962
• Duty drawback, and disputes under EPCG, Advance Authorisation, RoDTEP and the Foreign Trade Policy
• Anti-dumping, safeguard and countervailing duty matters
• Baggage and confiscation proceedings

Why clients bring us this work

Our advisor served in the Central Excise Department and appeared as Departmental Representative before CESTAT across port and CHA services, classification and valuation issues. Customs adjudication turns heavily on documentation and on the sequence in which objections are raised — both are far easier to anticipate from the inside.

Related matters from our advisors' case record

Common questions

My goods are detained at customs. What can be done immediately?

Provisional release is usually the first application, so goods move while the underlying dispute continues. The terms — bond, bank guarantee and their quantum — are negotiable and are frequently where the real value lies, because demurrage and detention charges accrue regardless of who is ultimately right.

Is a penalty proposed in a show-cause notice the amount I will end up paying?

Not necessarily. A proposed penalty is a proposal, and quantum is open to challenge on the facts. In Pawan Kumar Ralli, a Customs penalty of one crore rupees for alleged abetment of smuggling was reduced to five thousand rupees by the Tribunal after it accepted that the duty said to be evaded was unquantified.

Does a CHA face liability for an importer’s declaration?

That depends on the evidence against the CHA specifically, rather than on the importer’s conduct alone. It is a recurring issue before CESTAT and turns on whether the department has produced corroborative material.