Amendment of section 47
118. In the Customs Act, in section 47,––
(a) in sub-section (1), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:––
“Provided that the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, permit certain class of importers to make deferred payment of said duty or any charges in such manner as may be provided by rules.”;
(b) in sub-section (2), for the portion beginning with the words “Where the importer” and ending with the words “payment of the said duty”, the following shall be substituted, namely:––
“Where the importer fails to pay the import duty, either in full or in part, within two days (excluding holidays)––
(a) from the date on which the bill of entry is returned to him for payment of duty; or
(b) in the case of deferred payment under the proviso to sub-section (1), from such due date as may be specified by rules made in this behalf,
he shall pay interest on the duty not paid or short-paid till the date of its payment, at such rate, not below ten per cent. and not exceeding thirty-six per cent. per annum, as may be fixed by the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette.”.
Notes on Clauses:
Clause 118 of the Bill seeks to insert a proviso in sub-section (1) of section 47 of the Customs Act so as to empower the Central Government to permit certain class of importers specified by notification to make deferred payment of duty or other charges in the manner provided by the rules.
It also seeks to amend sub-section (2) of the said section to empower the Central Government to fix the rate of interest not below ten per cent. and not exceeding thirty-six per cent. per annum where importer fails to pay import duty either in full or in part within two days from the date specified therein.
