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Kathmandu. Now, if an importer makes a mistake while declaring goods at the customs checkpoint, he will have to pay a fine of up to 200 percent of the value of the goods. The relevant section of the Customs Bill, which was passed by the Finance Committee under the House of Representatives on Sunday, was passed by the committee.
Section 87 of the bill contains a provision regarding punishment for making a mistake in the details of the goods and declaring them. The Finance Committee has passed a provision that if a declarant declares an item by changing the details while declaring it, the customs officer can take action.
In the ‘c’ of that section, if an imported item is declared as another item or an item made from one type of material as an item made from another type of material or if the nature, physical characteristics, characteristic properties, measurements, shape, weight or quality of the item is changed or if no item is declared at all, such declarant may be fined equal to the value of such item and the item may be confiscated or such item may be inspected and inspected after collecting a fine of two hundred percent of the value of the item and the applicable duty from him.
Similarly, the committee has also amended and passed the proposed Section 88 in the bill. In that section, there is a provision for a fine if an item that has passed inspection without physical inspection is found to be different. There is a provision that goods that have been cleared without physical inspection can be re-inspected by a customs officer or other authorized officer before the declarant takes them out of the customs area or after they have been taken out of the customs area.
If, during re-inspection of such goods, the name, nature, physical characteristics, characteristic properties, measurements, shape, weight, quality or quantity of the goods is found to be different from what the declarant declared, it is considered an offense.
The proposed bill provides that if such an offense is committed, the customs officer will be fined five hundred percent of the value of the goods and the goods can be released after collecting the applicable duty, but the committee has approved the increase to two hundred percent, Finance Committee Chairman Santosh Chalise announced. .
The customs officer will not be able to adjust or reduce the amount of duty paid at the time of inspection of such goods in the fine and duty amount passed by the Finance Committee. During the section-wise discussion in the committee, there was an in-depth discussion on whether to make five or two. Mahesh Bhattarai, Director General of the Customs Department, said that if a mistake is made intentionally, a two hundred percent penalty should be imposed.
He said, ‘If one item is declared, a two hundred percent penalty has been imposed. The system does not detect deliberate false declarations, so if the customs officer declares different details during the inspection, a fine of 500 percent of the value of the goods and the duty due should be imposed and the goods should be released.’
The lawmakers had emphasized the need to reduce the fine during the section-by-section discussion.
NCP-UML lawmaker Bhagwati Chaudhary said, ‘We are in a very complicated process. Businessmen, who are users of the law, are feeling complicated. Something should be made easier. Where 100 percent fine is mentioned, it should be reduced to 50 percent, where 50 is mentioned, it should be reduced to 25 percent. This will be the right thing,’ he said.”
Revenue Secretary Dinesh Ghimire said that if someone brings any goods with a fraudulent intention, they should be fined 100 percent. He said, ‘Once the goods are classified and brought, they are classified as falling into another category, if the goods are brought with a fraudulent intention, they should be fined 100 percent. Because that is what was destined.’
Nepalese Congress MP Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said that if a driver commits a misdemeanor while transporting goods, punishment should be provided.
He said, ‘They can also commit misdemeanors under the authority of the driver, the punishment cannot be waived. Like a goods trader who ordered. The driver can also bring some goods there. That is something that will be found out during the investigation. If the driver is also found guilty, he should be a party to the crime.’
The clause-wise discussion on the Customs Bill will continue in the next meeting. Officials from the Law Ministry have also been included in the committee.
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