Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
Customs-IV Section
CIRCULAR NO. 04/2012-Cus
New Delhi, 17th February, 2012
To
All Chief Commissioners of Customs,
All Chief Commissioners of Central Excise,
All Director Generals/Chief Departmental Representatives (CESTAT),
All Commissioners of Customs,
All Commissioners of Central Excise and
All Commissioners of Central Excise & Customs
Sir/Madam,
Subject: Adoption of uniform Customs Procedure for calculating the contents
of Iron Ore – clarification regarding.
Several references have been received in the Board highlighting divergent
practices for calculation of iron contents from Iron Ore being followed at
different Ports for charging Export duty. In this regard two types of
calculation methods are being followed i.e. on the basis of Wet Metric Ton (WMT)
and other on the basis of Dry Metric Ton (DMT).
- Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Civil Appeal No. 7539 of 1995
in case of Union of India Vs Gangadhar Narsingdas Aggarwal [1997(89) ELT
19(SC)] in order to arrive at the Iron (Fe) contents out of Iron Ore, had
held that-
‘that is because the duty is relatable to weight and therefore, once the
iron content is determined keeping in mind the total weight, the percentage
can be determined separating the iron contents from the rest of the
impurities inclusive of moisture and thereafter ascertain in which category
the lumpy iron would fall for the purpose of charging duty….’
- In light of the observation by the Apex Court that export duty is
chargeable according to Fe contents, and to maintain uniformity all over the
custom houses, it is clarified that for the purpose of charging of export
duty the assessment of Iron ore for determination of Fe contents shall be
made on Wet Metric Ton (WMT) basis which in other words mean deducting the
weight of impurities (inclusive of moisture) out of the total weight/Gross
Weight to arrive at Net Fe contents.
- In case of any difficulty in arriving at the net Fe content, assessment
may be based on test result which directly determines the Fe contents.
- Pending assessments on the issue, if any, should be finalized
accordingly.
- Difficulties, if any, faced in the implementation of this circular, may
be immediately brought to the notice of the Board.
Yours faithfully,
(A.K.Goel)
Senior Technical Officer
Tariff Unit
F. No. 450/93/2011-Cus.IV