Pakistan: Under-Invoiced Goods To Be Confiscated By Customs

The Customs and central excise department has been empowered under the new Finance Ordinance 2000 to confiscate goods suspected of being mis-declared or under-invoiced. According to the new law, in the future such goods will face physical verification and examination on charge of mis-declaration and under-invoicing. At present, under the Section 26 of the Customs Act 1969 the officials concerned are authorized only verification of documents. The section does not cover detention of goods found mis-declared or under-invoiced. However, the government deemed it necessary to prohibit the disposal of goods pending the finalization of any proceedings under this Act in relation to the goods. The appropriate officers will be authorized for this purpose under the Finance Ordinance 2000 to detain such goods by a requisition in writing.

In this connection, the Finance Ordinance 2000, clause 33, says: "In cases involving confiscation of goods or imposition of penalty, the jurisdiction of Central Excise Officers shall be as follows:

"The collector would have powers to confiscate goods of any limit in value and quantity. The additional collector can now confiscate goods the value of which does not exceed Rs1.5 million, excluding the value of conveyance and the value of non- dutiable goods, and imposition of the penalty under the rules.

"The deputy collector would be authorized to confiscate goods the value of which does not exceed Rs0.5 million, excluding the value of conveyance an the value of non-dutiable goods, and imposition of the penalty under the rules."

The jurisdiction in this connection would be announced shortly by the Central Board of Revenue.

The Finance Ordinance says: "A collector, an additional collector and a deputy collector shall decide the case within 45 days of the issuance of a show cause notice or within such extended period for which reasons shall be recorded in writing, provided that such extended period shall in no case exceed 90 days."

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