Misdeclaration: sections 80, 121 of Customs Act may be amended

The government is likely to amend section 80 and section 121 of the Customs Act 1969 in the federal budget 2015-16 aimed at rechecking of goods in case of Misdeclaration and allowing transshipment of imported goods from one destination to the other without payment of duty, well-informed sources told Business Recorder.
Amendment is required in section 80 of Customs Act to provide legal cover to the reassessments made by the officers of Customs after the release of goods on account of non-application of valuation ruling, misclassification, in-admissibility of SROs, etc.
To meet the demand of natural justice, opportunity of hearing is also provided for in this amendment whereas for assessments done on the basis of computerised selectivity criteria, legal coverage is provided. According to the proposed amendment, if during the checking of goods declaration, it is found that any statement in such declaration or document or any information so furnished is not correct in respect of any matter relating to the assessment, the goods shall, without prejudice to any other action which may be taken under this Act, be reassessed to duty, taxes and other charges levied thereon within one of release thereof.
The proposed amendment further suggests that if after release of the goods a re-assessment is required then a notice will be served to the importer through Customs Computerised System and opportunity of hearing shall be provided, if he so desires provided that in case no response is received from the importer within fifteen days of the issuance of notice, the reassessment shall be deemed to be the final assessment and the assessing authority shall pass an order accordingly. In case of Customs Computerised System, goods may be examined and assessed on the basis of computerised selectivity criteria. FBR has also proposed amendment in Section 121 of Customs Act 1969 which is related to checking of goods declaration by the customs. Transshipments allowed through the Customs Computerised System are proposed to be specifically mentioned in section 121 of the Customs Act, 1969.
The proposed amendment says that provisions of section 15 and the rules, the appropriate officer may, on application by the owner of any goods imported at any customs-station and specially and distinctly manifested at the time of importation as for transshipment to some other customs-station or foreign destination, grant leave to transship the same without payment of duty, if any, chargeable such goods with or without any security or bond for the due arrival and entry of the goods at the customs-station of destination: Provided that at Customs station where the Customs Computerised System is operational, the system may automatically authorise transshipment to other customs-station subject to risk selectivity criteria.