Introduction
This article provides an overview of the litigation process and makes an appeal against the wrongful assessment of customs taxes by the Customs House under the Customs Act 1969.
Customs Appeal to Commissioner
Any aggrieved person, for example, an importer wishing to contest the amount of customs taxes demanded by the Customs House, may appeal to the Commissioner within 3 months from the date of receiving an order. The Commissioner may extend this time for 2 more months if he is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient causes from presenting the appeal within the previous 3 months that was given to him.
After entertaining the appeal, the Commissioner of the Customs House may update the payable customs taxes in accordance with the appeal of the importer. However, if the Commissioner of the Customs House does not entertain the appeal made by the importer, then it will issue a Note Sheet or Order which will provide justification of the Commissioner of the Customs House for charging the contested amount of the customs taxes.
After obtaining the said Note Sheet or Order, the importer is required to pay the specified amount of customs taxes as per the Note Sheet or Order. If the importer wishes to appeal against the Note Sheet, he may make an appeal to the Customs, Excise, and VAT tribunal under Section 196 of the Customs Act, 1969. If there is an urgency to release the product from the Customs House, then the importer may make the payment of the customs taxes “on protest” and make an appeal to the Customs, Excise and VAT Tribunal later on under Section 196 of the Customs Act, 1969.
Process of Customs appeal to the Appellate Tribunal
An appeal to the Appellate Tribunal can be made by an aggrieved person in the following scenarios:
- Any order passed by Customs Commissioner or an equivalent officer or any order passed under S.82 and S.98;
- Any order passed by the Commissioner (Appeal) under S.193
Appeals under this section shall be filed within 3 months from the date on which the order sought to be appealed against. If the appeal is not disposed of within 4 years from the date of its receipt, then the appeal shall be deemed to have been allowed by the Appellate Tribunal.
Process of Customs appeal to the High Court Division
If the importer does not obtain the remedy from the Appellate Tribunal, he may appeal to the High Court Division against an order under S.196B within 90 days of being served with the order.
Process of ADR under Customs Act
When a dispute arises, the aggrieved individual may apply to the concerned authorities for the resolution of the dispute through the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process. The concerned importer or exporter may apply for ADR in the following scenarios:
- Commissioner of customs or adjudicating officer or Appellate authorities – When a dispute arises and has not already been settled before the commencement of the ADR process then the application for ADR can be done to the concerned Commissioner of Customs or adjudicating officer.
- When a dispute arises after the commencement of the ADR process then the application should be made before seeking settlement under S.179, 193 or 196.
For a matter which is pending before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the petitioner may apply to the concerned Commissioner for ADR after obtaining permission from the court and if the permission is granted then the matter shall remain stayed during the ADR process.
Customs law practice at CLP
The Barristers, Advocates, and lawyers at CLP in Dhaka, Bangladesh are highly experienced in dealing with all sorts of disputes related to Customs matters in Bangladesh. For queries or legal assistance, please reach us at E-mail: info@counselslaw.com Phone: +8801700920980 | +8801947470606Address: Jamila Villa, Flat No. C-2, House-4/A/1, (3rd Floor), Road-02, Gulshan-1, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh.
