(i) DETERMINE the rate of duty applicable for clearance for home consumption. (ii) Whether the rate of exchange on 1st September could be adopted…

(a) (i) Section 15 (1) (b) of the Customs Act, 1962 provides that in the case of goods cleared from a warehouse, rate of duty applicable is the rate of duty in force on the date on which a bill of entry for home consumption in respect of such goods is presented. In the given case, since BBL has filed the bill of entry for home consumption on 1st September, rate of duty is the rate prevalent on the said date viz. 30%. (ii) Third proviso to section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 provides that the rate of exchange notified by the CBIC as prevalent on the date of presentation of bill of entry for warehousing is the applicable rate of exchange for conversion of foreign currency into local currency. Therefore, in the given case, rate of exchange that would be prevalent on date of presentation of bill of entry for warehousing i.e. 5th July and not the one prevalent on date of presentation of bill of entry for home consumption i.e., 1st September, would be adopted. (iii) As per explanation to rule 12 of the Customs Valuation (Determination of Value of Imported Goods) Rules, 2007, the chief reasons on the basis of which the proper officer can raise doubts on the truth or accuracy of the declared value may include:- (a) the significantly higher value at which identical or similar goods imported at or about the same time in comparable quantities in a comparable commercial transaction were assessed; (b) the sale involves an abnormal discount or abnormal reduction from the ordinary competitive price; (c) the sale involves special discounts limited to exclusive agents; (d) the misdeclaration of goods in parameters such as description, quality, quantity, country of origin, year of manufacture or production; (e) the non-declaration of parameters such as brand, grade, specifications that have relevance to value; (f) the fraudulent or manipulated documents.