Legal provisions governing restrictions/prohibitions: - CBEC's Customs Manual 2023 - Customs

2. Legal provisions governing restrictions/prohibitions: 2.1 Some of the relevant legal provisions that come into play when there is violation of the Customs Act, 1962 or any Allied Acts are as follows: (a) Prohibited Goods are defined in Section 2(33) of the Customs Act, 1962 as meaning any goods the import or export of which is subject to any prohibition under the Customs Act or any other law for the time being in force . Thus, a prohibition under any other law can be enforced under the Customs Act, 1962 . For instance, under Sections 3 and 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 , the Central Government can make provisions for prohibiting, restricting or otherwise regulating the import of export of the goods, which finds reflected in the Foreign Trade Policy, laid down by the DGFT, Department of Commerce. Some of the goods are absolutely prohibited for import and export whereas some goods can be imported or exported against a licence and/or subject to certain restrictions. One example is provided by Notification No.44(RE-2000)19972002, dated 24.11.2000 in terms of which all packaged products which are subject to provisions of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977, when produced/packed/sold in domestic market, shall be subject to compliance of all the provisions of the said Rules, when imported into India. Thus, all such packaged commodities imported into India shall carry the name and address of the importer, net quantity in terms of standard unit of weights measures, month and year of packing and maximum retail sale price including other taxes, local or otherwise. In case any of the conditions is not fulfilled, the import of packaged products shall be held as prohibited, rendering such goods liable to confiscation. Another example is that certain products are required to comply with the mandatory Indian Quality Standards (IQS) and for this purpose exporters of these products to India are required to register themselves with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Non-fulfilment of the above requirement shall render such goods prohibited for import. Action on such goods and persons involved can be taken under the Customs Act, 1962 . (b) Under Section 11 of the Customs Act, 1962 the Central Government has the power to issue notification under which export or import of any goods can be declared as prohibited. The prohibition can either be absolute or conditional. The specified purposes for which a notification under Section 11 can be issued are maintenance of the security of India, prevention and shortage of goods in the country, conservation of foreign exchange, safeguarding balance of payments etc. (c) Section 111(d) and Section 113(d) of the Customs Act, 1962 provide that any goods which are imported or attempted to be imported and exported or attempted to be exported, contrary to any prohibition imposed by or under the said Act or any other law for the time being in force shall be liable to confiscation. (d) Section 112 of the Customs Act, 1962 provides for penalty for improper importation and Section 114 of the said Act provides for penalty for attempt to export goods improperly. In respect of prohibited goods, the adjudicating Officer may impose penalty upto five times the value of the goods. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary for the trade to know what the prohibitions or restrictions in force are before they contemplate to import or export any goods.